


Burnt Toast Goes A Long Way

by TopHatHero



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Betrayal, Character Death, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Gay, Kidnapping, M/M, Science Experiments, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:13:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22858312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TopHatHero/pseuds/TopHatHero
Summary: When an engineer is faced with trouble after his normal day in and day out job goes south. Will the new comer help him or turn a blind eye.
Relationships: Engineer/Pyro (Team Fortress 2)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 68





	1. The new comer

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't written in a while so I may be a bit Rusty but I do plan on making this a several chapter series I just need to think more ahead.

It was a cold, misty morning as the fog rolled in from the mountains. Engineer woke up early today to try and finish what he was working on lately. He yawned, sipping on his coffee, looking out the window of his work shop. Seems like he fell asleep at his desk again from the dull pain in his lower back from sitting all night. His radio went off that morning. Instead of his team mates, which would have shocked him for reaching him at this hour, it was Miss Pauling's voice instead.

“All team RED employees. I will happily inform you that you will be getting a new Pyro, considering your last one was reassigned. I do hope you are nice to them. Thank you and good day.” Then it was radio silence once more.

“A new pyro huh?” Dell thought, sipping his coffee once more. Pyros were very known to be mysterious and, with little luck figuring out the last one, this new one should be interesting. See, there were a few other RED groups and BLU groups fighting in different locations for the Administrator and her obsession for these games. His thought was interior to Scouts half awake voice clear over the radio. “Now what?” he thought, sitting down to listen to this poor boy's excuse to be awake too early.

” Ey, uh, Miss Pauling I was, uh, wondering if you, uh, maybe, perhaps, would like to, oh, I don’t know, uh.” Oh boy, Dell thought, pinching his nose. The scout eventually gave up his half awake attempt and said “Nevermind…” in a quiet tone before radio silence.

“ You do realize she can’t hear you, right?” said a rather annoyed and snickering drunk on one side of the radio, making Dell almost spit out his coffee. Then complete radio silence for the rest of this little morning charade.  
After his coffee Dell got up once more and did his usual morning routine, including brushing his teeth, taking a shower and getting dressed. He finished up a thought he had on his blueprints before finally leaving his workshop. 

Thankfully his workshop was close by to the main base, unlike Sniper who, God knows where, parked every night and, instead of driving over, walked. As the engineer left, he noticed it was starting to rain hard. He cursed under his breath as he huffed to the front doors. Once inside he sighed, now dripping wet. “ Great…” he mumbled as he walked to the main bathroom area and grabbed a towel.

He started to head over to the main room where everyone hung out, drying off. Without looking, he kept walking until he bumped into someone. He stumbled back, taking the towel away from his view to apologize to whomever it was he bumped into. “ Ah I’m, I’m sorry partner, I didn’t mean to.”

He was cut off by the red suited man in front of him. It was the new Pyro, who had their head cocked in a way where they looked confused,concerned and hopeful. Engineer swallowed as he noticed that this Pyro was quite taller than the other pyros they ever had on the team. His heart raced a little at this.  
Engineer was quite a short, stout man who usually would be around the same height as the past pyros, making him not feel so self-conscious about his height but now it's starting to affect him. Though he kept that feeling to himself.

He cut the awkward silence.” Ah! You must be the new pyro! Nice to meet you partner!” he held his hand out. He was still very wet from the rain. The Pyro looked at him and then his hand before slowly reaching out, shaking his hand nervously. Dell smiled at this, at least he wasn’t mostly antisocial like their last pyro was, where they would sit in the corner a lot playing with their stuffed animals. Dell didn’t mind it though. If it kept the pyro happy then he let it be, though some others had choice words. Anyway.

“ Have you got a lay out of the base yet? Come on, follow me to the lounge area. I bet those boys would like to meet you.” Dell said softly as he gestured for the Pyro to follow him. The Pyro at first hesitated before he followed.  
In the lounge area was a kitchen, eating area, a tv and other accessories so it was rather large but it’s perfect for the team. Heavy was, of course, cooking sandwiches like he always does. This time for breakfast he was making grilled cheese. Engineer smiled but deep down he was getting sick of just eating sandwiches. Pyro looked over and watched the Heavy cook.

Meanwhile, at the big main table, Scout sat looking at his phone, frustrated about this morning. He seemed to be playing a game of some sort on his phone. The spy watched him. “Why do you delay your efforts so much boy?” He seemed annoyed by this morning's activities on the radio. Scout scuffed and looked at him.” That’s none of your concerns, Frenchie! I'm warming her up!”  
“ Warming' 'her up?? What is she, some sort of leftover pizza to you?” the Scottish man said as he sat down at the table with the two. “ At is nae way to treat a woman. How old are yee, 27, right? Just ask her already! Ain’t gonna no jigglin around th' question like it’s the plague!”

Scout got flustered remembering this morning even more. ”And you butt out of it you, you.” He seemed to be lost for words as Dell walked over. “Now what’s all the hubbub about? I hear a lot of shouting and that’s never good in this time of day, unless it’s Jane who’s always yellin.”

“Scouts having women trouble as usual ahnd at ziss point it’s becoming sad. So we are trying to help heem but he’s, as always, being a pain.” The spy said as he lit a cigarette he had with him in his high end case. He leaned back in his chair and blew out the smoke.” Have any advice, Engineer?”

Dell felt a little out of this circle since, well, he had different tastes. “Well, uh, um. I’d say ‘go get 'er?’ I’m not to sure what to tell the boy.” He said, sitting down at the table. The demoman looked at him, raising an eyebrow. He took a swig of his scrumpy as if it’s water. “Ey, Deel, you main hae something better tae say than that! Don’t ye have women all over ye?” Dell looked confused and looked away from them.” I don’t really have time for women in this work…” the table grew a bit quiet.

As the awkward silence started to get a bit unbearable, the Medic burst into the lounge area, looking dead tired, with a hand full of papers. He grumbled and sat at the table with everyone else, making everyone a bit concerned at his state.  
“ Doc you okay? Have you been sleepin?” Dell asked, looking at him and the bags under his eyes. “Nein I haffen't had any time for sleep. Arh ! I'm trying to figure out vat zee enemy docdor is brewing up offer zere. Ladely his peen off as if his blanning zomezing!” he said, clearly stressed over this idea. This made everyone confused, considering they never even noticed anything different with the enemy doctor.

Dell looked at him, concerned the most since he did care a lot about his team. “What are you talking about doc?” Noticing how much his accent was coming out, he figured it must be serious. The doctor looked at them all and sighed. He slid over some pictures, some labeled before and after. ”Ze the Blu docdor is usually so very caring for his team. Always out healing them but latezly I haven’t seen him at zall! It’s frustrating sinze I usually love to kill the little baztard. That’s the zing though, his nowhere to be seen anymore and when I do spozt him his hiding in ze back healing those to come to him instead of chasing them.” He growled in frustration as he ran his fingers through his hair.  
Dell leaned back. Since he was usually stationary with his sentry, he never really noticed the presence or absence of the Blu doctor, though the others also noticed it. ”I saw that as well. I thought the fucker was, like, sick or something.“ Scout pointed as Heavy walked over to the table with some grilled cheese while the Pyro walked behind him, holding a tray of bowls. This seemed surprising for the team. As the bowls were set down in front of them, they noticed it was soup. Oh lord, glorious soup.

“ Heavy, you made soup?!'' Scout said, grabbing a sandwich and digging in. Heavy grinned ”No. Little man actually good cook!“ He patted, well, slapped, the Pyros back, making them stumble forward before running a hand over the back of their head nervously. Everyone got excited and started to eat away. Dell grinned as he ate, happy to finally have something else besides two slices of bread and something in between. The soup was delicious as well. It made him wanna cry. ”Well, firebug, you're pretty good at cookin!”

Scout nodded in agreement. ”Yeah, you should always cook!” he said before getting a glare from the Heavy. ”Or, you know, sometimes.“ he said, looking away from him as he continued to eat. This all made the Pyro quite happy. They made a pleasant noise as they sat down and gripped their air filter, moving it forward and lifting the mask enough so they can sip off the soup and eat. It went dead quiet in the lounge. Everyone was staring in shock and awe as they watched the Pyro eat. Dell did as well before he snapped out of it and cleared his throat to snap everyone else out of this trance.

The Pyro looked up and got rather confused, tilting their head. Everyone went back to eating besides Scout, who had to butt his nose where it doesn’t belong. ”How come you eat, yet every other pyro doesn’t?” he asked, watching the Pyro as if his trying to pry into his mind. It made the pyro uncomfortable, putting their mask back.  
“ Now boy that isn’t nice to ask. Maybe they like to eat. It’s best if you leave them be to enjoy the meal.” Dell said, looking at the Scout with a scolding look on his face. “ Oh, butt off, old man.” The scout said, rolling his eyes. Dell got very offended” I’m not old!” he said, with a bit of volume.

Demoman trying to break up the conversation, looked around ”Hey, where are Jane and Mike?“ he asked, looking around. “ Little hardhead is out training. Piss man is nowhere to be seen.” The Heavy said as he ate.

Dell hummed, finished his food, and got up. He grabbed a radio to call up Sniper. ”Sniper, you there, partner? Where are you?” he asked and waited. He asked again before getting a response. ”Oi yeah, I’m here mate, just having car trouble.” The sniper explained, as you can hear him messing with machinery in the background.

“Where are you? I'll come help yeah out. I do know a thing or two about the machines.” Explained Dell, ready to head out. He got the location of where the stranded sniper was and hummed ”Alright, I’ll be right over.” He looked around to see who might be able to help.” Hey, Firebug, wanna help me out?”  
The Pyro nodded, feeling awkward anyway at the table, and got up. The two headed over to a car and drove to where the Sniper was. He had his truck hood open and was trying to fix it as Dell parked. He got out with Pyro to walk over. ”Well now, what seems to be the problem?” Dell asked, looking at the insides. ”It won’t start! “ the sniper explained how his car just wouldn’t turn on anymore or it would stall.

Dell looked inside and started to check possible problems that were causing this. ”Alright.” He looked over as he leaned on the car, his fingers in the opening. “Alright, firebug, I neE-'' he was cut off by the fact that he accidentally slammed the hood onto his fingers by touching the lever. A wave of pain surged through his body. He yelled out as he struggled to get his fingers out but his glove got stuck. He started to yell out bloody murder as the pain got worse the longer his fingers were stuck. ”Get it off! GET IT OFF!” He shouted, trying to pry open the hood.

The Pyro quickly grabbed ahold of Dells arm and pulled, making his hand slip out from his glove, freeing him. Dell's fingers were red from where his fingers were pinched. Dell held his hand close and bent down, trying his best to deal with the pain, his fingers felt off now, almost broken. He hoped not though. “You okay, mate?” Sniper asked, opening the hood quickly to grab the man’s glove.

“Yup, yup, I’ll be alright!” the Engineer said through his teeth. ”I need a minute for the pain to go away.” Dell claimed as he paced. Sniper looked at him and went into his truck before coming back out, handing him a little health bottle. “Here mate, this might help.” Dell took the bottle and drank it, his fingers healing instantly.” Thank you, Sniper.” He put the glove back on. He sighed. ”It seems you're out of oil, or just really low. Luckily I brought some.” The Pyro brought it over, handing it to the sniper. ”Fill it up to where it needs to be and that should do it.”

Sniper nodded and went to fill it up. He then got in to turn on the truck and it finally turned on. Sniper poked his head out the window. ”Thanks mate. I’ll see you back at the base.” Dell nodded and watched the man leave before looking over at the Pyro. ”Thank you for getting me free from the hood.” The Pyro nodded and gave him two thumbs up.

They got back into the car and headed back home as well to get ready for the next battle that day.


	2. Surprise, It's Not The Intel I'm After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This battle is wet, cold, and full of surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thank you for reading my work. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Before the battle began everyone was getting ready and making sure their weapons were working. Dell was tending to his sentry gun, making sure it will go up faster and smoothly. He hummed a soft little tune as he worked on his machinery in the corner of the respawn room. He looked up to see the Pyro staring, watching him. “Oh hey little firebug." Honestly this made him jump.

He doesn’t usually have people watching him work on his machines. Everyone usually saw it as a boring job since they’d rather be out fighting the enemy head on instead of sitting in a stationary spot tending to a dispensary and a sentry.

The pyro got closer up, curious as to how it works, well that’s what Dell interpreted that to be. “ Have you ever seen one of these little firebug?” the pyro just tilted their head again and reached out pulling something off the sentry. It was a very small blue device with a blue light on it. Dell got up confused.” What the hell is that?” he asked, looking at the device. The pyro handed it to him and mumbled.” Mlm.” Which most might understand it to be BLU. 

Dell took ahold of the device examining it as if he's never seen this before. ”How did this get on my sentry gun? Good eye firebug. Maybe this is what’s causing my machines to not work properly.” If this is the problem, then this has been on his machines for a while. Kind of around the time the Blu M edic started to act weird.

No, surely it can’t be connected. It’s probably just something the Blu Spy put on to fuck with Dell. It wouldn’t be the first time the Blu Spy did this sort of thing. Dell and that Spy have always been at each other's throats since they started. Though the Blu Spy especially hated Dell. He is always going after him more than the rest of his team. Almost like it was his personal mission to hurt the engineer in any possible way.

After a while Dell started getting pissed about the targeting and would be extra cautious when dealing with spies. He even made himself a little earpiece so he could listen for footsteps. Dell glared at the little bug like device and pocketed it, deciding to look at it later in his shop. 

Today’s battle was located at Sawmill. It was raining heavily that day so the water filled areas were overflowing, making the Intel rooms about half way up your shins in water. This made Dell worry. His sentry was mostly water proof but not completely, making water environments rather hard for him to maintain. 

As soon as the bell went off for the battle to start Dell picked up his machines and ran as fast as he could to their own Intel, finding it a rather good spot. As he was going down the stairs, he noticed the bottom step was completely submerged in water.” Ah hell…” he said stepping in the water. He ignored the feeling of water filling his boots as he trod through the water to the main room that had the Intel. It floated in its box magically spinning around waiting to either stay there or to be picked up. He set up his sentry and dispenser, having to take several trips to a close by ammo location for metal. Once he had himself set up he relaxed a bit, knowing very well that if the enemy spy came in he would most likely hear him from the high waters.

As he sat there he relaxed more thinking maybe today wasn’t the spy’s days knowing how difficult it is for an invisible spy to move through water since the water can’t go invisible. He relaxed before he started to hear footsteps splashing through the water, getting closer to him. He got out his shotgun, ready to shoot, when he saw a Pyro poke their head into the room. He relaxed once more.

“ Hey, little firebug, you scared me there. “ he said as he checked his sentry. He made sure the bullets were loaded up as Pyro walked closer to inspect him and the sentry as if they were curious once more. Dell looked at them. “ What is it? Is there another bug?” he said as the Pyro touched the sentry. The sound of the sentry going down from a Sapper went off. 

Dell took a second to realize what was happening before he got pinned to the wall making Dell grunt to the sudden impact. Pyro changed into the enemy Blu spy who was grinning devilishly with dark intent. Damn it, how could he have fallen for such a trick, Dell thought. Probably from lack of sleep last night. 

He struggled against the wall holding the Blu spy back. Their force struggled against each other, almost canceling each other out. Dell was able to shove the Blu spy off, panting before he could get stabbed. He went for his wrench which was on top of his dispenser but was tackled into the water with the spy jumping onto his back. The Blu Spy pushed Dell’s head under the water in an attempt to drown the engineer. This only made Dell struggle even more as he felt the air leave his lungs from the weight of the other man , bubbles coming up from where his head was. Dell’s struggling eventually led him to rolling onto his side bringing the spy down with him. Dell got his head above water as he gasped for air. He turned around punching the spy in the face as hard as he could as he coughed up water.

The spy let go of him for a second, giving Dell a chance to get up. His hard hat fell off in the process as he reached over and grabbed his wrench, swinging it at the spy. The spy dodged, pulling out their knife and going in for the blow to his neck. Dell blocked it with a swing of his wrench, getting cut down his stomach, nothing life threatening thankfully but, damn it hurt, causing him to start to bleed everywhere.

Dell held his stomach with one hand and pulled out his pistol before yelling, ready to blow this man to the moon and to alert his team mates, as he felt something stabbed into his neck. It didn’t feel like a knife. He pushed the Blu Spy away again and reached up, pulling out a needle. He looked at it in shock. This was a medical needle, a now empty medical needle. 

He started to feel weak all over as what was in the needle spread through his body. He tried to shoot the Spy but missed every shot as his hands started to shake. Before the Spy could deal the final blow to the Engineer, hope turned around the corner with a raging flame, burning the Spy alive. It was the Pyro. Thank goodness, Dell thought, as he felt his hands start to shake violently, dropping his pistol into the water where it joined his wrench and shotgun. 

He continued to hold his bleeding abdomen as he felt his body start to go into shock with overwhelming pain. He fell down to his knees as the Pyro came over quickly to make sure the man didn't fall into the water, trying to figure out what’s wrong as he mumbled something but Dell didn't hear them. His hearing was slowly starting to go.

Dell looked at the Pyro, holding onto the Pyro’s suit tightly as he tried to fight whatever was attacking his organs. The pain was getting worse. It almost felt like all his insides were being cut open inside himself. But in reality his internals were shutting down.

He clenched his teeth tight from the pain as he felt himself get picked up. He looked at the Pyro once more to see that they had picked him up and started to run to their spawn area which was close by. He spat up some blood from whatever was happening inside of him. All he could think about was why this Pyro was helping him. He could always respawn and the pain and injuries will be gone. He can only hope that's the case as the Pyro ran into the respawn building to a healing cabinet. 

Though it was all for naught, as nothing changed. It seemed like whatever was happening to the Engineer wasn't healable. He struggled to breathe as his lungs started to die. "Firebug.." he struggled to speak as he looked at the fire loving Pyro who seemed to be freaking out over the situation. Dell swallowed down some blood to try and speak more." I'll… I'll be okay firebug.. just … put me out of my misery so…. I can respawn.. " he managed to say as he leaned against the cabinet.

The pyro looked at him standing there for a second before nodding. They looked around and picked up one of their own spy's weapons, a knife and went over to the engineer who was now wheezing. They hesitated, putting the tip gently on their chest aiming for their heart before piercing the knife into the Engineer's heart in one quick blow. Engineer didn't feel the sharp stab from the pain all over his body but smiled at the Pyro before he went limp from dying. 

His body laid there for a second before disappearing. The Pyro was left at the somewhat bloody cabinet, shaking. They got up quickly to go to the respawn room that was a few steps away and waited nervously. They paced before seeing the Engineer respawn.

Dell was shaking as he checked himself over, making sure all injuries were gone and he was healthy again. He sighed as his entire body relaxed. He can still remember the pain causing him to shake as he looked up to see the Pyro staring at him from the other side of the glass doors. 

Dell walked over with a smile only to get pulled into a hug by the Pyro. This surprised him at first since he usually doesn't get hugged by any of his team mates or in general. It was a nice little change. Then he noticed the Pyro was shaking. He frowned, hugging him back". “Hey it's okay little firebug. I'm okay see?" He said looking up at the masked human. Though the hug made him confirm this Pyro was definitely not a female or at least, if they were a female, they had a flat chest. 

The Pyro looked at them as a very soft sniffle was heard from inside the mask. Dell's heartstrings were pulled from the soft sniffle. Why did this Pyro care so much about him? It made him feel special for the moment. Though to help calm the Pyro down, he stepped back to show his stomach was okay. "And I don't feel any pain. I'm all good." He smiled.

The Pyro nodded slowly as if they understood. Their shoulders relaxed a bit from being tensed up just as the sound of their Intel being taken was announced. This snapped Dell back into the battle. "Oh damn it! I forgot my sentry went down! We need to get back there and stop them. Come on, little firebug, let's get back out there!" He said, grabbing his equipment again since it also respawns along with him. 

The Pyro nodded as they grabbed their flame thrower and ran out the door to find the culprit of the Intel take. Dell followed along, checking downstairs where the Intel is usually stored when not taken. Nothing. He cursed to himself as he set up a mini sentry before going up the stairs once more and poking his head out of the door, looking around to see a little BLU Scout running away with their Intel and turning a corner. Dell sighed, knowing how he can't really follow a Scout and knowing how bad of an idea that would be considering his skills were to stay put. 

He went back downstairs again and built his sentry up once more since his dispensary was still there, functional other than a few bullet holes in it. Once his sentry was built and his dispensary fixed, he sat down on a metal chair he made and held his shot gun ready to shoot anyone coming into the Intel. 

After hearing the enemy team getting a point he gripped his shotgun tighter. He hoped deep down he didn't see that Spy again this battle, let alone have that needle stuck in him again. The needle… he thought as he got up looking around. He needs that needle! He got up from his chair and searched the waters for the stupid thing, knowing damn well that if he brought it to his own medic he might be able to figure out what was injected into him. 

After searching for a minute he found it in the water. He carefully picked it up and looked around for a safe spot to put this until the battle ended. He saw a small rolling table in the corner and put it there as their Intel popped into existence.

Dell sighed and reached over, opening a hatch in his dispenser and pulling out a bottle of beer. Opening it, he took a huge swig to hopefully calm his nerves. 

For a while it was quiet down in the Intel room, besides the occasional gunshot from above. The sound of rain still coming down hard, bouncing off the roof of the building above caused a soothing sound. Dell's nerves eventually relaxed and he laid back in his chair still holding his gun. 

As he put the bottle down on top of the little rest his chair had he heard footsteps coming down the stairs fast. Quickly he grabbed his shotgun ready to shoot. When the person turned the corner Dell shot not thinking about who it might be only to see a startled Scout. Their own Scout.

"Dammit boy you scared the hell out of me!" Shouted the Engineer as he lowered the shotgun. The scout, unscathed, looked at the engineer, ticked now.

"Why the hell did you shoot at me!?! You jumpy old man!" He exclaimed, crossing his arms. Yup it's definitely their Scout and not the spy. Engineer huffed. "How many times must I tell you I'm not that old, boy! Why are you here and not grabbing their Intel!" He said looking at the jumpy scout who was stretching.

" I came to check on you to make sure you're not slacking again. We are trying to win this, not lose!" The Scout said as if he's mocking the poor Engineer. This only made Dell grumpier. "Oh, bless your little heart. " He said, putting the gun down and glaring at the Scout. "I died. I can't protect the Intel dead now can I?" He said.

The scout huffed. "Whatever man, just try not to next time." He said before running off to do God knows what leaving Engineer alone once more. Before the engineer could sit back down, he felt a sharp pain to his back as he yelled and died. 

When he respawned he gasped and looked around before cursing out. "Damnit damnit DAMNIT!" This battle just wasn't meant for RED to win.


	3. Showering goes a long way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long battle it's time to relax,kick back, and have some fun

Everyone returned to the red base, exhausted and worn. They lost that battle by a long shot. The BLU’s kicked their asses like there was no tomorrow. Thankfully though, since they got the Intel so quickly all three times the battle didn't last long. 

The one person that was most disappointed in themselves was Dell. That Spy handed him his ass the entire battle. He was exhausted by the end of it all. He headed straight for the kitchen to get some coffee. He usually didn’t drink the stuff but he knew he needed a little kick if he wanted to work on his machines tonight and figure out whatever that device was that Pyro found on his sentry.

As he made the coffee he thought about the battle he had with the Spy during the first round. What the hell was in that needle? He pulled it out of his pocket to examine it." Since when did Spy have a needle…" he said to himself. It looked like a medical needle alright. There seemed to be some of the liquid still in it that caused that excruciating pain. The coffee beeped and he put the needle back in his pocket before pouring himself a cup. He went to take a sip as he felt someone touch his shoulder.

Dell yelled, turning around quickly, almost dropping all his coffee all over himself in the process. He was still a bit on edge from the Spy’s constant torture. He relaxed, seeing it was only the Pyro who put their hands up as a sign of ‘I'm not going to hurt you.’ Dell took in a deep breath. "Sorry about that little firebug, I'm still on edge from today." He said, relaxing and putting his coffee cup down on the counter. Pyro put up a thumbs up and mumbled something but Dell couldn't tell what it was.

Dell smiled and remembered the fight." Hey, thanks for saving my butt back there. That Blu Spy seemed to really have it out for me." He leaned against the counter. He thought about the hug earlier after he had respawned making his cheeks feel warm. Pyro nodded, seeming happy about being able to help during the match.

Before Dell could say another word, more of the team walked into the kitchen. Demoman walked over to the fridge and groaned once he looked inside." Eh! What happened to me scrumpy!" He shouted, slamming the fridge door closed and looking at everyone before watching a certain Scout start to sneak off." It was you! You devil!" He yelled and chased after the boy. 

Heavy walked over to Dell and Pyro as the Demoman ran off." Help with dinner, yes?" He demanded making Dell feel a bit nervous before Pyro nodded and looked at Dell. " I uh.. I'm not the best cook, big-guy, you sure you also want me to help?" He asked, looking at the big man in front of him. Heavy cracked his knuckles making Dell's stomach flip from fear." Alright alright I'll help!" He said, putting up his hands, chuckling nervously.

" Good! We make…hmm.." he said thinking about it before Pyro walked over with a cookbook. It seemed like something he had brought with him when he came to the base. He opened it and pointed at a recipe to Heavy. " Ooo! Good plan! I like this idea, little man!" He patted Pyros back hard, making him stumble forward. Dell helped keep Pyro from falling over by catching him. His gloved hand was tensing up from putting pressure on it in a certain way. He clenched against the painful feeling before it went away. The hell, he thought, as he looked at his hand.

Sadly no one noticed this and continued to do what they were doing. Pyro looked at him and it almost seemed like he was smiling back at him from underneath the mask before mumbling something along the line of thank you. Heavy put the cookbook on the counter and got to work. It was a beef stew, a hearty beef stew as a matter of fact. Dell smiled, his stomach growled at the thought of stew for dinner instead of a sandwich. They cooked for a while since it took much longer than the normal dinner. Dell did the best he could with helping cook. He mainly cut up the veggies, knowing that's probably all he could do somewhat well.

Once dinner was ready, Dell went to collect everyone. When he got to Medic's room, he knocked on his door before poking his head in." Hey Doc, soups up." He said looking at the man. He was head deep in papers before he looked up at Engineer." Oh! Wunderbar! I'll be right out." He said as he started to make the papers into neat piles. Dell opened the door more so he could be heard better." Hey Doc, I actually wanna talk to you real quick. " He said, gaining the interest of the medical man.

" Vhat is it?" He asked as Dell walked into the room and pulled out the needle. He explained the events of what happened to him during the battle. Medic examined the needle closely. " Fascinating… This is quite new information to me. I don't have anything in my arsenal of medicine that would cause that… Vas it painful?" He asked, seemingly a bit more excited by it then concerned. Dell swallowed and nodded slowly as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Very much so.. it felt as if my organs were failing, including my muscles… but it wouldn't kill me right away. It was almost torturous. I had to be put down for it to stop…"

Medic hummed looking at it before putting the needle in a container. "I vill look at it later. For now, let's eat yeah?" He said getting up and leaving the room. Dell looked at the needle one last time before following the man out. 

The dinner went by smoothly. Seems everyone was pretty happy over the stew, making them forget their horrible battle. Dell finished eating and got up." Well I'm off. Thank you for the dinner Heavy and Pyro." He said softly, smiling as they nodded. Pyro looked very happy by his body movements. He started to head to his workshop but stopped in front of the locker room. He decided maybe a shower might help his overall nerves he accumulated today. He walked into the locker room and found himself a locker that he could put his clothes in. He undressed and put his clothing into the locker before walking over to a shower with a towel. The showers were a stand in small shower with walls surrounding three sides and a curtain as the entrance. Thankfully each shower already had shampoo, conditioner and body wash.

He got in and turned on the water. Waiting for the water to warm up, he looked at himself in the small mirror that was in the shower. Since he wasn't the tallest guy in the team he couldn't see all of himself in it, mainly his head. He looked at himself and noticed his hair was growing in. He reached up to run his hand over the fuzz and smiled softly. Maybe he will grow it out instead of shaving it this time. 

Soon the water was warm enough so he got under it and started to wash off. He had a lot of dried blood on him from himself and the enemies he killed so he really had to scrub. After a minute or so he heard the locker room door open. He stopped to listen to who it might be since everyone's footwear was quite different in sound. It sounded like Pyros. He continued to scrub himself off but listened as he heard the zipper as the Pyro's rubber suit was pulled down along with his gloves, mask, and etc.

Dell's heart started to race. He wanted to poke his head out so badly to see what the Pyro might look like but he knew that might be rude. He felt his face warm up to the thought of what this caring guy looked like. He shook his head to try and calm himself down as he heard bare feet hit the tiled floors approaching the line of showers. The shower curtain, due to budget cuts, had almost a foot high gap on the bottom of them making it so if someone looked under they would definitely be able to see. Though it didn't really bother the men since no one dated to do such an act.

He heard the footsteps come closer to his shower considering he got into the first shower. His heart rate went faster as his eyes darted down to the gap. He stood still, trying to hide even though his water was going, making it obvious there was someone else in there. He watched the pair of tan feet walk by his shower to go into another shower next to his. He took a deep breath as quietly as he could to calm himself down. He looked up at the mirror and noticed he was starting to blush from pure excitement. He shook his head to try and calm himself down. When that didn't work he put his head back under the water. Calm down Dell he thought to himself.

He continued to wash himself off thinking about the other man in the shower next to him. The hug that happened earlier came to mind. He stood there for a minute in thought. It was so calm and welcoming.. being hugged by the taller, muscular man… No! No don't start Dell, he thought slapping himself in the face. He froze as he heard the man in the next shower stall cleared their throat. Dell looked at the wall as if he was trying to see through it to the other man." Are you okay Dell?" Pyro asked concerned. He sounded like he had a Sspanish accent. What kind though, oh, it doesn't matter. He noticed how soft and gentle it sounded. Wait, how does Pyro know it's him?

Dell's heart rate skyrocketed as he responded." Y-yEs!" His voice cracked almost violently making him hold his throat. Did he just hear his voice? He covered his mouth with the hand he had over his throat as he listened to silence." Just... just shaving my face, haha!" He said in his panic but managed to make it sound calmer than his previous response. " Okay…" the man responded, they sounded unsure but left it at that, making it silent once more besides the running water coming from the shower heads.

Dell swallowed quietly. He held his chest to feel his heart race from excitement. He stood there for a while almost forgetting he was showering. He didn't know what to do with himself and his feelings certainly weren't helping. Now all he can think about was every interaction he had with Pyro. He bit his lip almost to the point where he bled. What he didn't realise is with all the excitement he seemed to have gotten.. a problem. 

He looked down noticing the slight uncomfortable familiar feeling one might get down there and widened his eyes in shock. Oh no, not now! He thought as he looked around in a panic. He shut his eyes to try and think of something that might get rid of his problem. Women, pain, the spy. Through after his efforts the image of what possibly Pyro might look like popped in his mind and he opened his eyes. He looked down and quietly got frustrated seeing he still had his erection. He bit the PIP joint on his pointer finger trying to think of what to do, he certainly can't walk out with it and make it to his workshop or anywhere for the matter of fact. He had only one option.

He reached down and gently grabbed hold of himself, leaning against the wall farthest away from the shower curtain. He was sensitive alright, as he felt his member twitch from excitement. His blush went from tomato to cherry as he covered his mouth with his other hand to silence any slip ups. He began to slowly stroke himself to not make too much noise. Even if there was any noise it will most likely get drowned out by the shower hitting his body and the tiles below anyway. 

He kept an eye on the gap in the curtain to make sure he didn't get peeped on as he speeds himself up. His breathing started to become more noticeable, to himself anyway, but it wasn't too loud for others to hear. He started to let his mind wander as he thought of the other man more. He wanted this to end quickly and went faster with his jerks. He felt extremely dirty doing this here and now, but he couldn't stop now. Besides, part of him rather enjoyed the excitement of doing this in the shower. He bit his lip and tongue as he unloaded into his hand, tensing up before he relaxed, feeling a lot better. He removed his hand, panting softly as he looked at it. He had some blood on his hand from biting his lip way too hard.

He sighed, relaxing, and washed his hand off before he continued his shower with now pretty much cold water. He heard the other shower turn off before they started to dry off. He washed off the soap he lathered himself in as he heard their curtain open and walked to their locker. The tan feet were now wet as they walked by. They continued to dry off and got in their suit once more by the time Dell was done "showering". Dell started to dry off before he heard the man say good night in the normal muffled tone under their mask before they left the room.

Dell groaned after being alone once more and slid down the wall, sitting on the floor in the shower. He put his face in his hands as he collected his thoughts. He now has to deal with the feelings he got from the Pyro. Though he didn't hate it. He actually smiled a little bit. It's been a long time since he's had these sort of feelings for anyone. He sat there for a while before getting up off the floor. He left the shower and got dressed before heading straight to his workshop, not making any pit stops. Once inside, he closed the door and locked it before he let out a huge groan and a soft chuckle as he rubbed his face.

"That was.. something.." he said to himself before he walked over to his workbench and sat down. He put out the Spy device he had in his pocket and shook his hands ."Let's figure out what in tarnations this is." He said, as he began to open the little thing. As he took the device apart he noticed several things it seemed to have. 

For starters, it seemed to have what looked like a modified zapper the Spy used to destroy his sentries, but it wasn't as powerful as those from how tiny the device was. He also noticed a very small camera. He went to pull it out, thinking maybe he can get the footage before he heard it start to beep. He stopped, confused as the beeping started to go faster ." OH SHIT!" He got up quickly and went to try and get in cover as the thing blew up. It was quite the explosion causing part of his workshop to explode and sent him flying into the wall with a lot of force. 

He slid down the wall as blood started to drop down from under his hard hat. He groaned as he heard voices come from somewhere but they sounded very very far away before he heard nothing but a buzzing noise. He felt dizzy for sure as he reached up to hold his head. He flinched and held his arm in pain. He must have hurt it when he got launched into the wall. He pulled his goggles and hard hat off with his good arm and tried to get up. When he got up with what strength he had, he stumbled from being dizzy, almost falling down. He looked up to see the aftermath of it. Well there goes all the work he had done and the wall, he thought to himself as he looked at the hole and the exploded table that was now burnt to smithereens.

He clenched his teeth as he walked over to a chair that wasn't broken and sat down. He saw the base doors open that lead to his workshop through the fresh hole in his wall. He noticed it was several people who were running over but he couldn't tell who as his vision started to blur. He leaned back in the chair as he fell unconscious.


	4. Biscuits and Gravy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an intense explosion, Dell is left wondering what will happen next.

Dell felt a stinging sensation in his face as he looked over into the darkness. His vision was slowly coming back but not of his workshop. It was a large field of long semi green grass. It almost looked like his field back in Texas. He reached up to feel what was causing the sensation and flinched from the pain. What could have caused it, he pondered, as he looked around more in this new, yet familiar, environment.

Everything was still fuzzy, almost like his vision was impaired. Nearby was a boy who was a bit taller than him. He looked hurt, not physically but emotionally. His face wrinkled in hatred and sadness as they swung their hand back and struck Dell once more to the face in the same spot, making the pain intensify. Dell stumbled back, holding his cheek as he felt his eyes swell with tears from the pain. 

His heart started to ache in pain as he saw the boy speak but no words were heard as if Dell was deaf. Though his body reacted, Dell seemed to have understood the boys hateful words, causing Dell to shake from fear and heartbreak. The boy pushed him down before kicking him over and over again. Then he ran off, leaving Dell laying in the long grass. He began to sob uncontrollably before his vision went black once more.

*

Dell woke up in a panic. He sat up and groaned in pain as he held his arm before collapsing back onto the operation table. He softly panted and looked at his arm to see what could have caused the pain. It was wrapped up in bandages which made him realise that he was not wearing a shirt. His hearing came back quickly, a heart monitor racing in the background as a gloved hand was put on his bare chest.

Medic looked at him, concerned." Don't move zoo much Engineer. I still haffen't healed you vet. Teufel noch mal! Zhat hesplosion did a number to vour body." The man spoke with his accent coming out more than usual. He reached over to a movable metal table that had multiple medical tools on it and grabbed a needle filled with a clear liquid. Dell's already racing heart rate from the dream continued as he watched him bring over the needle. 

Medic noticed his response to the needle. "Zon't worry Engineer. It isn't zhat poison." He put it into his arm with a quick motion, making Dell jump. " Did you.. ever figure out what was in that needle Doc?" Dell asked, looking at him, his voice shaky from the slight panic he was going through but was slowly getting calm. Why was he reacting so badly over a needle unless the dream was still affecting him.

" Zit vas a sort of acid poison that attacked your cells." He said pulling out the needle, making Dell's body start to feel better instantly, causing the man to relax on the table more. "Whoever made za stuff had a dark intention with it." The Medic said, looking at the smaller man. Dell swallowed. He felt nervous hearing that, but not as nervous as he should be. " I'll keep that in mind Doc.." he said as he sat up slowly. He yelled and held his right hand with his left as the pain he experienced before, during that time over dinner, came back but was more like a sharp nerve pain. It lasted longer than last time, causing him to hold his breath and clench his teeth.

Medic looked at him, confused by the sudden behavior as he quickly grabbed a needle. He put the needle into his hand, extracting some blood before the pain disappeared, causing Dell to relax a bit." Fascinating... Zhat looked like it hurt haha!" He said taking the man's hand to examine it." Have you had it zappen before?" Medic asked, looking at him seeing his hand was unscathed from any needles or knives besides the needle he just used.

"Only once.. but it wasn't like that…'' he said looking at his own hand. Medic stood up and hummed in thought." Vell I suggest if it continues to come back here." He helped the man off the table and handed him a new shirt." Here, put zis on. Your workshop should be back zo normal by now." He said as he left the room.

Dell nodded before realizing something. How long was he out for? He looked at a calendar and groaned. An entire day by the looks of it. 

He left the medical room to find Pyro sitting outside, asleep in the chair. He smiled softly as he looked at the sleeping man. He must have been tired if he's asleep in a chair. He walked over and sat in the chair next to him, gently touching his arm to wake him up. Pyro stirred and looked around before looking at Dell and made a happy noise under the mask.

Dell smiled, still worn out from recovery and from sleeping most of the day away. " Hey, little firebug, I hope you weren't waitin' too long for me." He said softly as he relaxed in the chair. Pyro waved it off in a calm gesture like it was nothing. He made a 'oh' sound before reaching under his chair and pulling up a stuffed teddy bear. The bear had a hard hat, goggles, and overalls on it which resembled Engineers usual look.

Engineer felt a small blush form on his cheeks when he gave him the bear." Did you make this?" He asked, looking at Pyro who nodded quickly. A small smile formed into his face as he looked down at the bear." I don't usually get gifts.. Thank you firebug. Haha you even made a tiny outfit." He smiled more as his heart warmed with happiness. Then his stomach growled from hunger after not eating for an entire day.

Dell chuckled, holding his stomach in defeat." Guess I should eat somethin' before my stomach eats itself." He got up, still holding the bear. For now he put the teddy bear in his side pocket. Pyro also got up and gestured that he could make something for Dell since it isn't the usual eating hours. Dell looked delighted." That would be great Pyro, thank you." He knew pyro seemed to enjoy cooking and wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to have some of it.

They went to the kitchen, they noticed that no one was there which was usual for this time of night. Most were probably asleep or up plotting for the next battle. Though he's occasionally seen Jane up watching something weird or Scout up in the locker rooms checking himself out. 

Pyro walked over to the shelf near the kitchen counters and grabbed the cookbook before flipping through some pages. They made a humming noise and looked over at Dell with excitement, pointing at a certain recipe. Dell walked over to investigate which recipe he was pointing at and smirked. " Biscuits and gravy huh? Well it's been awhile since I've have anythin' like that." He smiled." Sounds good!" He said, giving Pyro a thumbs up.

Pyro clapped his hands and reached for his gloves. He slowly took them off, not to get them dirty or the food gross. His body movement made him seem nervous about having his rubber armor off, even if it's only his hands. Dell looked at his hands from curiosity, their left hand had a nasty old scar covering most of it and it ran up into his arm which was covered by the suit.

Dell frowned as he thought about it. He hoped they aren't in any pain anymore. Pyro looked over and held his scarred hand as if trying to hide it from Dell's peering gaze. Dell looked up at him and gave him a reassuring look." It's okay firebug. I'm not the kind of person to judge someone by their appearance. It's only a scar and you are still you, right?" He said, not wanting to seem rude like Scout might be in this situation. He was raised to judge someone by what's on the inside and not their appearance.

Pyro relaxed and nodded, seeming reassured by that as he let go of his own hand. He walked over and pulled out some ingredients before grabbing bowls for mixing. Dell watched curiously, not really wanting to go sit at the table by himself. He liked being in the company of the little fire lover. Pyro turned to him and pointed at him before mumbling something along the lines of “will you help me?”

Dell felt nervous instantly from this request. He did alright last time he helped. Yet last time he actually tried to cook with a stove or oven he almost burnt down his childhood home." Are you sure, firebug? " He asked as Pyro nodded. He grabbed Dell's hand and brought him over after making him wash his hands. He showed him the recipe and showed him what to do. He had Dell stir as he put the correct amount of ingredients into the bowl.

Dell kept mixing, watching the man and keeping note of everything he was doing in hopes of learning something from today. Soon the batter for the biscuits were down and ready for baking. Pyro showed him how to form them before slowly showing Dell the process as he did it. Dell's hands shook faintly as he folded the dough over and over to create the layered effect found in biscuits. Pyro looked at him with concern as he gently nudged him with his arm to snap him out of his anxiety induced trance

Dell snaps out of it quickly before looking at Pyro. He chuckled nervously and sighed." Sorry about that pardner, the last time I cooked I burnt down the kitchen and more." He said, sounding rather disappointed in himself. The man may have 11 PHDs but none of them were in cooking. He knew it was a disappointment to his father considering the man was the classic engineer and had high hopes for his son to succeed in everything.

Pyro washed his hands and rubbed his back before patting him gently as if to say it's okay. He reached up and pulled his mask forward and spoke gently." No one is good at everything and that's okay.." he said in a sweet almost loving tone while facing Dell. " I will teach you and you can teach me." He said with a cheery tone to his voice. Dell looked at him, blushing a soft rose color before smiling back and nodding." Thank you Pyro… That means a lot to me." He chuckled as the butterflies danced in his stomach to the man's charming voice and caring words.

Pyro nodded and chuckled." My name is Apollo." He said before putting his mask back down feeling his hand get tired from pulling the rubber mask in such a way. Dell looked at him and grinned, honored to now know the man's name." Nice to meet you Apollo." He said. 

They stood there for a few seconds before Pyro cleared his throat and gestured let's continue. Dell chuckled, snapping out of it once more before looking back at the food as they made the gravy. 

They continued to cook for a while until it was finished and smelt amazing. Dell smiled, feeling pretty proud of himself as he looked at the masterpiece of the biscuits and gravy.

They made their plates and sat down at the communal table before the dug into their meals. It was a rather quiet meal for the most part. Pyro pulled their mask back to eat of course. Dell ate quickly from starving all day before sighing happy from feeling satisfied and full." Thank you Apollo for helping me cook, I needed it." He chuckled as he took his plate and went to wash it.

As he looked over at the other man eating and noticed he stopped. Apollo was starting to nod off and his head dropped down slightly as if he was fighting the exhaustion. He finished the dish before walking over, touching his shoulder gently once more." Hey, how about we get you to bed?" He said holding him to make sure he didn't fall back into the floor.

Pyro nodded and got up, holding onto the shorter man before being helped to his room. Thankfully Apollo's room was close by. Dell opened the door for Apollo and helped him in." There yeah go. You goin' to be okay?" He asked, not knowing if the other man will be too tired to take off his rubber armor. Apollo nodded and Dell soon left the room, closing the door behind him.

He sighed, leaning against the door gently to not make a sound. His stomach was still dancing with butterflies. He reached up to hold his face, trying to calm down his overall flustered expression. Thankfully it was midnight or this would be a pain to deal with as he got up from the door and started to walk to his workshop.

Once outside, he looked at his newly fixed workshop and smiled softly to himself. He could see the patch work everyone did, even Scout, whose patch work was awful but he will leave it to help the poor boys ego. He walked inside and closed the door behind him, locking it. He felt exhausted, but not tired enough to go to bed, considering what he did most of the day anyway. 

He walked over, sitting at his work bench and pulled out some blueprints that weren't completely destroyed thankfully, and sighed. Guess he knows what he's going to do tonight to occupy his insomnia. He pulled out some new blueprint paper, pencil, eraser and got to work on recreating the ones that were destroyed. This is going to be a long night.


	5. Sleep In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a certain firebug doesn't come to breakfast a man can worry. What has happened to our Apollo.

Dell was up all night working on his lost blueprints. By the time he was done he checked the clock, 7 a.m. He sighed and leaned back before stretching out in his chair, hearing his back crack in response. He yawned and got up from his chair before looking out the window to see the weather situation. It was raining again, great. He sighed softly and grabbed an umbrella this time before leaving his workshop.

He made his way over to the doors and opened them. Before he went inside, he dried off the umbrella before he walked inside and placed it into an umbrella stand. He walked to the kitchen and noticed he was the first one awake. Figures, he thought. He started to make some coffee as he thought about some way to improve his sentry set up time, possibly could use more power to them.

His mind wondered as he thought about today’s battle. He walked over to a white board that usually had their schedule and whatever battle plans on it that was near the kitchen. He looked at what was happening today and sighed. 2fort. He was never fond of capture the flag maps. Especially considering last time he got his ass kicked by that asshole spy. 

He heard the coffee machine beep as his cup of joe was ready and waiting. He walked back and pulled it out before adding milk and sugar, making the perfect cup of Joe in his opinion. He took a sip as he heard a yawn come from the entrance of the lounge area.

He turned around to see Medic was up. "Good mornin Doc. How are you?" Dell asked as he sipped his coffee. Medic looked over at him and stretched. "Vorn… I've been looking into your hand problem to see if it leads to anything."

Dell put the coffee down. He hasn't really felt anything since he woke up last night.Removing the glove, he looked at his hand, gasping and letting out a small yell. In the middle of his palm was a pea size black dot. He reached to touch it and tried to rub it off but it wouldn't go away. That part of his palm now felt odd,almost numb.

Medic walked over and looked at his hand after hearing him yell. "Vell that isn't good.. does it hurt?" Medic asked looking at Dell who shook his head." Hmm… I'll have a look at it tonight to see if it grew more."

Dell nodded and put on his glove once more to cover it up. Soon, more people poured into the kitchen and breakfast began. Dell sat this one out, feeling rather tired from the lack of sleep during the night. He was already on his second cup of joe.

"Slow down old man before you overdo your heart or something." Scout said in a rather mocking manner. Dell huffed, he hated being called old. "I'll be fine, thanks for your opinion." He was not in any mood for this boys' attitude today. "Besides when I was your age all I drank was coffee."

"What the hell were you doing at my age that's so special to cut out food?" He said, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

Dell sipped on his cup of coffee before letting out a gentle sigh. "I was getting my 6th PhD. I was on the verge of figuring out the dispenser so I didn't really have time to sit down and eat a proper meal for months." He hummed, looking at his cup of joe.

Scout quieted down for a while. Possibly he got part of his ego crushed but sometimes it was the only way to get the boy off your back. He already gets enough bullying from that fucking spy. Before another word could be said, breakfast was served. It was sandwiches. 

Dell blinked and looked around, noticing Apollo wasn't here. He got up, excusing himself before heading off towards his room.Of course no one really seemed to care, seeing Dell leave. He made his way to the front of Pyro’s room and knocked on his door. "Pyro, you up?" He got no answer.

Dell's stomach started to knot in worry as he knocked again but still received no response. "I'm going to come in, okay?" He said loudly before reaching down and turning the door knob. His heart raced as he opened the door, not knowing what might lay beyond.

In the bed, curled up under the blankets was a possible sleeping man. The pile of blankets moved up and down from someone calmly breathing. He slowly walked over and gently sat down on the bed before putting his hand on the mass, gently shaking them.

" Are you okay firebug?" Dell asked, worried about him. 'is he sick?' Dell thought as the mass moved once more moving towards Dell. Suddenly with one swift move the man hugged Dell's stomach tightly burying his face into the front flap of Dell's overalls.

Dell jumped at first out of surprise from not expecting a hug. He looked down, now very concerned. He put his gloved right hand on the man's shoulder. When pyro went for a hug part of his top half was now visible in the dim light coming from a closet in the room. He seemed to be wearing some sort of shirt.

Dell's heart raced as he gently stroked the man's soft, light brown hair. It looked like even though it was dark,the top of his head had a sun kissed lighter brown top as if the sun bleached his hair. His hair was soft to the touch almost like puppy soft.

Dell's heart couldn't take this. As interesting it was to see this much of Apollo, he was more concerned about him. "Apollo, are you okay?" He looked down at him. Apollo sniffled and slowly nodded. "Much better… sorry…" 

Dell tilted his head. "Why are you sorry, little firebug?" He asked, worried he did something that might upset Dell himself. Apollo shook his head. "That I hide…. " He gripped onto the man's overalls tighter from shame.

Dell frowned and rubbed his back with his left hand. "It's okay to hide sometimes, firebug. Sometimes, life can be cruel and havin some time to oneself can help one relax. Hell I do it sometimes so I don't over stress.." He said, thinking about when he was younger. He sighed and looked down at him.

Apollo was looking up at him, covers pulled up to his nose. . In the dim light, it was hard to tell the colors of his eyes but one was definitely blind from the lack of pupil and the cloudy white color covering the eye. He lacked an eyebrow on that side of his face as well. Dell then realised that this was the left side of his face like the scar on his left hand.

Dell caught himself staring and jumped a little, feeling his face heat up and his heart skip a beat. "Is somethin botherin you little firebug? You can tell me. You can trust me." Apollo looked away and pulled away from the hug, going back under the blankets before sitting up. He had the blankets around him like a cloak with his face uncovered. The lighting made it hard to see his face.

" 'm a monster…." He said quietly as if he was going to start crying. Dell’s eyes grew with worry under his goggles, and he leaned in closer. "Hey, hey. You're not a monster, Apollo. You are a very sweet and caring gentleman." He said, not wanting the man to feel sad. He was so focused on that, he didn't even realize what he said. 

Apollo looked at him and sniffled before softly speaking. "You- you think I'm a sweet and caring ….gentleman?" Dell looked at him and instantly got flustered, pink from his nose to his ear tips. "Well, I-I mean, I, yes, it's true…" he said, looking away, rubbing the back of his head, his helmet moving slightly.

Apollo smiled, making a soft chuckling noise. He seemed to have cheered up a bit before reaching up to touch his face and then wipe his tears away. Dell smiled through the flustered moment, glad to see the other happier. "How about we get you some food? It's sandwiches this mornin."

"Can you eat in… here with me?" Apollo asked, looking at him again, his voice ever so soft with the hints of that beautiful Spanish accent that made Dell not hesitate to answer." Of course. Would you like me to bring it in here? " Apollo nodded under the blankets, making a happy nasal noise. Dell got up. "I'll be right back then." He said, walking to the door.

"Gracias..." said Apollo in a soft voice. Dell smiled more and nodded. "You’re welcome, little firebug." He said before leaving the room to grab breakfast. He walked back to the kitchen and asked Heavy if he can have two plates, one for him and one for Pyro.

Heavy nodded and gestured to two plates on the counter that had sandwiches already on it. Dell thanked him before grabbing the plates and retreating back to Apollo's room. This caught the attention of few of the guys now as they chatted about what might be happening. He ignored it and went into the room.

Once inside he noticed some clothes on the floor, the shirt being included, and Pyro back in bed. Now with a less heavy blanket covering him up. Dell walked over and handed him the plate. Apollo's roughed up hands reached out and took it gently before bringing it to his lap. "Gracias Dell.." he said in a shy tone as he began to eat.

Dell sat down in a chair nearby. "You’re welcome." He said before he began to eat his sandwich. After a while of silence, Apollo spoke up. "Dell… why are you at Mann Co?" He asked, the hooded figure looking over at his direction. 

Dell looked up and swallowed his bite a bit too loud. "Well..I… first… oh man haha." He leaned back to collect his thoughts on the topic." Well my father is the lassic Engineer. He was in Mann Co when I was born. He wanted me to be just like him so he taught me everythin… but there's only one way to get into Mann Co… is to show potential and madness…." He said looking over at the light from the closet. "He pushed me too hard, making me constantly go to school to try and achieve potential since I was gifted in learning. I guess... at that point I just wanted to impress him so badly I lost myself… eventually I snapped… and well uh.. did something bad… which made me qualify for the job plus my invention of such extreme machineries… " he said, sighing before taking another bite of sandwich.

Apollo stayed quiet and held his arm under the blanket. " Are you… okay now? Happy?" He asked quietly. Dell looked at him and softly smiled. "I'm okay now Apollo. I feel more at home here than my own home…" he hummed." Anyway. Have you been to 2fort yet?" Clearly, he was wanting to change the subject. 

Apollo nodded. "Yes. I feel like I'm always… uncomfortable… with the small areas…" Apollo said, finishing his sandwich. Dell looked at him curiously. "Now why's that firebug?" He asked before taking another bite of his sandwich. "I don't.. like the small areas… spy's hide in small areas…"

Dell paused and frowned. "Not a fan of small spaces… well if you ever feel uncomfortable you can come find me and I'll keep you company." He smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Apollo smiled and nodded "Okay!" He said, not in a whisper for once. This made Dell smile more out of excitement to see the man come out of his comfort zone in his tone of voice. Dell finished his sandwich and got up. "I have to go get ready. I'll leave you to get dressed, okay?" He said as he walked to the door and looked back at him. 

Apollo nodded. "Okay.. I'll see you at the respawn room." He said before Dell left the room.

After a few hours it was time for the battle. Dell was already in the respawn area working on his dispenser and smiling letting out a satisfied "Aha!" He finally got the third level of his dispenser to work again. Then, as hope came it quickly left, making Dell groan in disappointment and frustration. 

He kept trying but failed once more before he remembered the little bug on his sentry. He quickly got up and circled the dispenser, looking for a little blue bug. He looked inside and out before he found it behind a knob. He yanked it off and the dispenser kicked into the third level once more with no problems. 

Dell sighed looking at the little bug. "Little pain…" he said pocketing it. He saw Apollo walking in with their rubber suit on and flamethrower in hand. Dell waved at him happily. The pyro perked up and waved back happily and walked over to Dell.

Dell smiled. "Oh! I found another bug on my dispenser this time. I'm worried there might be more on everyone's stuff. Possibly weapons. I suggest you check your flame thrower. I'll inform the others about this situation." He said and Apollo nodded. He started to check his flame thrower and other weapons while Dell informed the others.

Thankfully there was enough time before the battle began so they could do so. It seemed like Medics syringe gun had one, Heavy's Natasha had one, Spy's cigarette case had one and Sniper's huntsman had one. 

All bugs were finally removed and given to Dell for experiments later that day. What Dell didn't know was that today was going to once again not be an easy 2fort day.


	6. Needles. Needles. Needles.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Blue Medic acting up and the Blue Spy on Dell's back how will match end. Only time will tell.

As respawn let everyone out, Dell grabbed his tool box and put it on his shoulder before heading out. He decided to head straight for the sewers. He got there with only a few bullet wounds given by a now dead scout. He made his way in the waters towards the platform at the end of the tunnel.

He grabbed the health pack once there and sighed before putting his tool box on the ground up against one of the walls. He started to whack it with his wrench to build it up. It started up as a level one sentry. 

He grabbed the ammo box for metal that was next to the health kit and used it to make a dispensary. He cautiously got them all up at level 3 before he got into position and waited for any enemy that would turn the corner at any time to their doom. 

After a while of no one coming down, Dell sighed and slid down the wall into a sitting position. He relaxed a bit, reaching over to grab a beer from the dispenser before a Blu Scout turned around the corner and blew up instantly. 

Dell jumped, looking at the chunks of Scout all over and smirked. He chuckled and whacked his sentry to full health before going back to his beer. This happened several times over the course of an hour. The enemy turned the corner and would shoot at the sentry but only end up dying, with Dell being constantly healed from his dispenser.

Suddenly, the flow of enemies to the sewers stopped. He sighed out of frustration from lack of targets and finally got off the floor. He started to pack up when he heard a sudden splash outside in the water pit that led to the sewers. He stopped and turned around to hear which way they would be going before hearing another splash. A few rocket shots went off before you could hear Jane yell out in pain. Who ever was fighting Jane was leading the fight right into their sewers. 

Dell grabbed his shotgun for protection and continued to listen as he got in the water. He quickly went to help Jane only to stop as he looked around the corner causing him to drop his gun. He looked at the two struggling men with the Blu Medic winning over the soldier and stabbing a needle into the helmet loving Soldier's neck, causing him to yell out in pain. Dell quickly reached down to grab his shotgun as Jane started to get weak and almost drunk from whatever was in that needle.

The Blu Medic let go of the now drugged, very weak soldier before looking at Dell and shooting him in the neck with his syringe gun. Dell yelled as he got two into him. He dropped his gun as it acted quickly in his body, making him feel almost numb with a burning sensation. His muscles relaxed almost simultaneously, causing him to collapse into the water up against the curved walls. He panted from panic as he tried to move but he felt a million pounds heavier as he watched the Blu medic pull the needle out of Jane's neck and put another one in his neck. 

Jane tried to fight with whatever power he had left and bit the man's hand before getting punched square in the face with a grunt from the Blu Medic. The Blu Medic kicked him hard in the stomach as well before saying something under his breath. He then looked at Dell and grinned devilishly. He pulled out another needle, prepping it as the soldier in the back started to pant hard as he tensed up. 

Dell's stomach fell as he tried to get away, flashbacks of the last time he had a needle in his neck from that doctor came to his mind. He heard Jane start to suddenly yell in pain as the Blu Medic pinned Dell down in the water with his foot on Dell's chest. Dell struggled against the Blu Medic with no success as they pulled off his glove.

Blue Medic grinned devilishly as he looked at his hand and the condition it was now in. "Oh that must hurt hahahaha!" He laughed as he examined the hand. Dell kept trying to pull it away but the lack of strength made it difficult, making him try to call out for help. This pissed off the Blu Medic, causing him to kick Dell in the stomach as well to shut him up, before stabbing him in the neck with the needle. "Enjoy zis little.. present." He grinned as he got off Dell and started to head more into the sewers. Dell's machinery exploded in the background from being sapped by a certain spy.

That was the last thing he heard before feeling the intense pain all over his body once more but it was different this time. It felt almost like his bones were breaking and his muscles ripping. He yelled out in pain as he started to lose all his senses. Before he knew it though he died from the pain. The pain strangely lingered before respawning. The pain suddenly zapped away causing Dell to yell again before panting heavily as he stood where he respawned. He was in a cold sweat as he thought "What in tarnation was that?" 

He looked over, noticing Jane was still at respawn, looking at the mirror they had there. He walked over and noticed the man looked different. More in shape strangely and the slight wrinkles he had from constant snarls and laughter was gone. His skin also looked like it was in a better shape. He took off his helmet and he even had more hair. He looked confused, shocked and unsure as to what was happening before looking mad. "Why do I look like this?" He said in his usual demanding voice.

Dell didn't know how to answer as he looked at himself in horror. He was very different compared to Soldier's constant strong physique. Dell was much skinnier compared to how he usually looked, causing his clothes to bag. He wasn't skinny as Scout but a bit more like Sniper who has the physique of sitting in one spot. He also had a beard like he did in college.

Dell took his hat off in shock to see his hair grown out. "What in the world has happened?!?" He asked from shock as someone else respawned that looked a lot different. He looked over to see their own Medic. He grunted from the pain but the ticked off expression on his face said it all. Medic was down right furious with whatever happened but he looked younger. His hair was thicker and longer with no gray in it. He actually looked skinnier as well but not by much.

"I'm going to rip that man's head off!!" He yelled and ran out causing Dell to run after him to try and stop him from doing something stupid. Jane followed after out of instinct, thinking they were in fact going to rip the Blu Medic's head off. Dell ran ahead of him to stop Medic from advancing. "Doc, you gotta stop and think about this first. Besides, he clearly messed up somethin' about us. I can't really fit in my uniform anymore and your's also bagging. " He said as the Medic looked down at himself and then at Dell, noticing his beard and his change in his body. "Interesting. Zomething was in those needles for sure... If I could only get a sample. " he said, thinking about it and realising something. "Vait… how vere you able to get in front of me. Usually you're slower.." he examined Dell, taking his goggles and hard hat off.

"Interesting. I do remember in your files this was your physique vhen you were younger, correct?" He asked Dell. Dell felt naked with his goggles and helmet suddenly off. "I guess so. It does seem familiar. But the only time I was this skinny was durin College." The Medic hummed as he also examined Jane who wanted to be back out there. Medic shooed him off so he could go do his own thing, leaving him and Dell alone.

"Clearly zomething is vrong with zat Medic.. " he said as Scout turned the corner and went to a complete halt, staring at them with a confused look. Dell looked at Scout along with Medic before he grabbed his helmet and goggles back, putting them on once more. Medic explained their situation to Scout in the best way possible for him. 

"So you need those needles but they are on him and he's been able to kill all three of you?" He snorted at the fact they died by a Medic. Dell glared." Scout, be serious! If he gets Sniper or you, hell, you might turn into children. We need to get those needles away from the man or to win quickly before he picks someone else to have his.. experiment." Dell said in a firm tone as Pyro walked over and also looked confused. 

While Medic explained to Apollo what had happened, Scout and Dell kept at it. Dell huffed, frustrated by the boy's stubborn nature. "Are you tellin' me you can't do it? Because if you can't then, hell, I will!" Scout suddenly looked offended. "Of course I can do it but I'm only one person! You need a distracting method to get them off of him!" He said looking at Dell.

Dell thought about it. "That might work." He scratched his beard to think about how they might be able to do such a thing before he heard music. He looked over to where it was coming from along with everyone else and started to walk out of the Court Yard, down the Halls of the main level of their base to the outside. What they found was Demoman drinking and dancing with some of the Blu team. 

Dell sighed and walked back inside. It must be friendly hour, he thought as he looked at Apollo. Apollo waved at him in a welcoming manner making Dell smile. "How are you doin, firebug?" He asked as he pulled his tool box out, struggling slightly and sat on it. Apollo put up a thumbs up and then pointed at him to see how he was doing. Dell sighed. "I'm alright.. could be better really. I'm startin to get annoyed with the Blu Medic and Spy. I don't understand what happened to the Medic… His sudden change in personality was out of the blue."

Apollo walked closer to Dell and squatted down to give his legs a break as he thought about it. He was trying to observe the Blu team from up here. He didn't know much about how they acted beforehand so it wasn't much information to run off of.

Dell got up and stretched. "Well, I'm going to go set up in their sewers while I have the chance. Want to join me firebug?" He asked, smiling at him. Apollo nodded and they headed out to the sewer's entrance from their own base. Dell struggled with his own tool box. The muscles he had built up over the years were completely gone. It didn't make him feel great either, causing him to grunt in frustration and struggle before putting it down for a breather.

Apollo quickly swooped in and picked up the tool box to help. Dell looked at Apollo as he picked it up before looking away, feeling ashamed of how weak he was before feeling a hand on his back. He looked back at the man who was just staring with a blank expression on his mask, but under that mask he was most likely smiling. 

They continued to the Blu sewers, walking past Dell's blown up sentry and dispenser. Dell looked around the corners, knowing perfectly well not everyone does the friendly hour. With the coast clear, the two quickly ran and swam past the open part of the sewers that was under the bridge before making it to the other side. Dell then ran in quickly and made sure the coast was once more clear before heading into the BLU sewers. 

When Apollo made it there, he put down the tool box where Dell would like it. Dell then proceeded to start setting stuff up as quickly as he could just in case. Once everything was set up again to level 3 he sat down, leaning up against the wall next to his dispenser. "Would you like a beer, Apollo?" He asked as he hit a button on his dispenser to open the beer compartment. Apollo sat down next to Dell and moved his mask up exposing his mouth. Dell swallowed quietly and handed him a beer as he looked at his mouth. His lips looked so soft. From where he was sitting he didn't see much of the scar running down his cheek and neck.

"Gracias, Dell." He said as he opened the beer and took a sip. Dell did the same and looked away with a sigh from a refreshing beer but also out of frustration. Apollo noticed Dell seems to be upset still. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly with a sweet tone. Dell looked at him and then forward. "I never liked myself in college. I always felt weak…" he sighed looking down. 

"You're not weak Dell. Your life … was different when you were in college right?" Dell nodded as he looked at him once more. "College, if I'm correct, is a different environment to ...this. So you were built differently… but you're not weak. Never." He said with a huff." You're always strong and caring!" He said looking at him. Dell was lightly blushing a rosy color before he looked away and chuckled. He reached up to gently touch his own face. "Well that's mighty nice of you to say Apollo. You're pretty.. strong and caring yourself." He said looking at him once more. Even though his goggles were tinting, there was a certain look in Dell's eyes that made Apollo have to look away. He couldn't pinpoint what it was but it made his stomach dance in joy.

Dell took another sip and sighed, leaning back. "You know.. I think it's pretty amazing how much you are able to control fire. You have such a passion for it." He said looking up at the murky ceiling. Apollo looked at him and rubbed the back of his head as he looked away. "Thank you.." he sounded flustered which got Dell's attention. "You're amazing at your.. machines. I can't even.. begin to imagine how you came up with them. You're very talented with them." Apollo commented with an ardent tone to his voice Dell blushed a darker hue and smiled more. "Thank you Apollo. I'm, I'm flattered." 

He went to continue to talk when he heard the music get louder from upstairs. He looked up and then at Apollo. "Do you want to dance firebug?" He asked him as he got up and held his hand out. Apollo got up, taking his hand as a stabilizer. "Sure." He smiled at him. Dell started to dance but it wasn't the normal taunt. It was a soft, slow dance that was almost a Walt's but Dell wasn't the best at dancing in general so it wasn't exactly.

Apollo smiled and held the small man like one would in a Walt's and danced with him. The tension in the air was thick from nerves but also a hidden feeling. A feeling of anger filled the room but it wasn't from Dell or Pyro. Who might it be.


	7. It's Getting Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the day goes on, Dell has to deal with new challenges. If it be rivalry, friendship, pain, or love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for waiting patiently for this chapter. Several things came up for my editor and I as to why the chapter is late but do not fear. I'll try my best to get the next chapter up on the right day next week. I hope you enjoy. C:

As they swayed to the music up above, the presence lurking in the dark grew angrier. Dell could feel it now. He looked around, confused. He started to go on alert when Apollo, oblivious to the feeling because of his thick rubber suit, took a hold of Dell's hand. 

Dell snapped out of his worry and looked at him. The way Apollo had his head positioned and the lighting hitting him in a certain way caused his goggles to be somewhat see through. His soft, calm and tender eyes looking right at Dell with a worried and caring expression. Dell's stomach did a flip as he felt his face suddenly redden from the sight.

Before anyone could say anything or move, Apollo cried out as Dell heard his sentry gun sizzle from being zapped in the background. Apollo's eyes vanished into the black abyss of his goggles as he fell down with a knife protruding from his back, leaving Dell and the Blu Spy alone. 

Dell's calm and collected aspect completely left him as the anger rose from deep inside. He grabbed his wrench quickly and went to whack the Spy intending to kill him for ruining the moment.

The Blu Spy held his hands up to defend himself. "Mon Ami, calm down. I just want to talk." He said in a worried and calm tone. He backed up to avoid getting hurt. "You wouldn't want to break the friendly moment we have now, would you?" 

Dell huffed with anger, gripping his wrench tight as he glared at the taller man. "Why would I want to talk to a snake?" He hissed, as he kept a solid gaze on the man. "And I'm not your friend. I thought that was established from the beginning. I don't plan on being your friend either." He swung at him again, getting a hit in even though his strength was nothing compared to his usual stature. 

The Blue Spy hissed and pushed him away quickly. "You're still quite stubborn are you not? Just hear me out, Mon Ami." He muttered as he held his side, cursing in French from the pain. "Still? What the hell is he goin on about now" Dell thought as he watched him with a glare. "What do you want? Hurry up, I'm fixin' to rearrange your face if you don't spit it out, boy."

The Blue Spy swallowed and pulled out a cigarette. He lit the end after putting it in his mouth and hummed as he looked at him, the tension in the air thick like lard. "I can understand my mask could potentially hide my identity but surely you must have noticed what is visible to be familiar. Though, it's been many years, and yet, no matter how many times I get close to you, you seem to never notice." He sighed as he inhaled some smoke before puffing it away.

Dell looked confused and angry. "What the hell are you going on about, snake? Whenever you get close, all you want to do is stab me! Why the hell would I be lookin at you that hard?" He snapped, making the Spy jump. "I don't care if I knew you before. You're my enemy. I'm your enemy. It's our job to kill each other." He said with a dark tone to his voice. "And all I want to do.. is make you hurt until you can't feel your own skin anymore." He growled.

The Blu Spy glared in defeat. Clearly what he was trying to get across once again didn't get through. "Fine, then pre-" he was cut off as Dell kicked his tool box causing a flying robot to come out. It was a prototype he was working on, it didn't have much health and acted like a level 1 sentry but it did the damage. It flew close to Dell, following him wherever he went. It shot at the Spy, causing him to try and shoot back. Spy caught a bullet to the head, causing him to fall back into the water dead. A loud Bing sound went off through both bases to signal Friendly time was now over.

Dell groaned, knowing he would get an earful later tonight from the boys as he stared at the dead Spy with emotionless eyes. "What in tarnation was he talking about. He’s dumber than a box of rocks, I swear." He muttered as he whacked his main sentry back up to level three. He sighed and decided to move his equipment to a different location. He bent down and picked up his sentry before treading back up to the surface and placing it in the narrow corridor between the entrance and the courtyard. He ran back down for his dispenser and brought it up as well, placing it in the corner behind the sentry. 

He quickly thought of an idea and ran down once more but continued past their own sewers into the enemies sewers. After making sure the coast was clear, he ran to their platform and put up an exit teleporter. He built it up to level three before disappearing back into the water. He went as fast as he could before going up to their respawn area. He set up an entrance teleporter and informed the boys of it before heading back down to defend the entrance.

A few enemies came in, only to be obliterated by his sentry and his teammates. He kept an eye out for the enemy Spy to make sure he couldn't get tricked again. He wanted to win this battle more then anything now just to piss off that fucking Spy. Soon enough enemies came in to overpower the defence. Dell's sentry exploded as he tried to fix it, causing him to yell and pull out his shot gun to defend himself. He fired at them as he backed to a safer spot only to get shot several times in the gut. 

He coughed up blood and hid behind the corner in the courtyard. He was very low on health making everything quite difficult, from. He held his wounds and yelled out for Medic as he looked around. He walked over to the corner of the courtyard facing the stars and held his gun out as he heard people get closer. He aimed, ready to shoot when the Medic turned the corner and spotted Dell in his condition. 

He hit him with the Medical waves of the Medi gun, healing Dell. Dell sighed, feeling much better besides his stomach being twisted and his hand. He didn't notice it during the fight, but his hand felt terrible. He grunted as their Medic watched him pull off his glove. He looked horrified at the color and condition of his hand. It was a yellowish color with purple splotching his palm. The black dot turned into the size of a quarter and was now oozing black fluid with something wiggling inside the open wound.

Dell, even though he's seen a lot of things in his line of work, couldn't handle the sight and turned away to vomit on the floor. Medic looked at his hand. "Zis isn't good Dell. At this rate your hand will fall off." He pulled up his sleeve to check if it was spreading. Seems like the yellow tint to his hand was creeping up his arm. "Respawn isn't getting rid of this either… will you be able to deal with it for this battle?" He asked, looking at Dell to see if Dell was fit for fighting.

As much as it bothered him, Dell nodded, knowing he had to continue. "I'll be okay Doc. I'll just be more careful with my hand until the battle is over." His stomach swirled with nausea from the sight of his hand tattooed into his brain. He put the glove back on to try and hide the sight and got up, feeling slightly dizzy. "I need to build another sentry to defend the Intel." He said as he watched Scout run by, covered in bullet wounds and cuts, but he had the Blu Intel. Out of instinct, Medic whipped around towards Scout, starting to follow and heal him.

Dell went up the stairs thinking about his hand as he bumped into Apollo. He stumbled and looked at him with worry still on his face. He quickly lightened up, happy and thankful to see the sunshine in front of him. "Hey firebug, you okay from that stab?" He asked as he looked at his back. Thankfully no wound. Apollo nodded and looked at him mumbling something along the lines of "are you okay?" 

Dell looked at him and away, remembering his hand. "I.. I'm going to be honest with you but they did something to me. " he pulled off his glove to show him. Apollo gasped loud in his mask before reaching up to pull his mask up to reveal his mouth. "When did this happen? Was it that Spy? Does it hurt? Will it be cured by Spawn? Are you going to be okay?" He sounded very concerned. He took a hold of Dell's hand gently to look at it before looking at Dell. "I'll sticking with you now." 

Dell watched him quietly as he felt himself heat up in the face with what he said last. "Are you sure, firebug? Not a lot happens around me in some of my spots." Apollo nodded, looking down at his hand as if he was thinking of something. Without warning, Apollo brought up Dell's infected hand and gave it a kiss on the back, causing Dell to turn the color of a ripe tomato. "F... firebug, what are?" He couldn't form words as Apollo looked at him. "My madre told me that it helps to kiss the booboo away when I was younger." 

Dell looked at him and couldn't help but smile at Apollo's adorable efforts to make him better. He looked away, not noticing the blush creep down the visible part of Apollo’s face. "Thank you, Apollo." He said, as he looked back at him. He heard the respawn door open to see Heavy run out, ready for battle only to slow down to look at the door. Apollo was still holding Dell's hand and Dell was still blushing. It took him a second before he grinned a wide grin. Dell looked at him and looked away as he gently pulled his hand away. He felt instantly embarrassed as Heavy hummed. Still smiling, Heavy walked past the two and went into battle.

Apollo, who had his mask back down by the time Heavy saw them, watched him leave before looking back at Dell. Dell was flustered and ready to move on to their battle stations." Shall we?" He said pointing to the courtyard. He nodded and Dell went to set up. 

They enemy struggled to push into the Red base as Scout kept going in, taking their Intel without much trouble. Dell set up his sentry in a position where it would be easy to protect both entrances to their intel, with Apollo close by, spy checking every five minutes. The feeling in his hand grew worse to the point where it hurt to hold anything so he decided to use his other hand, using his injured hand to stabilize his left hand when shooting. He was sweating pretty bad from the pain. At one point he couldn't think and could only focus on the pain, causing him to drop his gun.

Apollo did double time to make sure Dell wouldn't have to feel any more pain from getting injured by the enemy. After Apollo did a sweep for spys, he quickly ran into respawn to refill his flame thrower, leaving Dell. He had set himself in the corneron a stack of hay. He didn't even notice that his sentry went down as he noticed a blue blur pass by but stop. He looked up as he felt his vision start to go fuzzy as he saw the Blue Scout staring at him confused and in horror. " What the hell happened to you?!? Doc-" He said before dying to flames engulfing him. Dell had to look away from the carnage, his stomach ever since his hand started to act up was very upset. 

Dell leaned over vomiting once more on the floor before he felt like his entire body was throbbing from the pain. He tried to ignore it, but at this point it was too much for him to handle. With his vision going away and his stomach doing flips, Dell could only muster up a level one sentry before he saw Scout run by with the enemy Intel for the third time. He smiled and chuckled through his troubles as he sat down once more. He waited a bit with Apollo before they got the winning bell. 

Apollo didn't care that they’d won, he wanted Dell to be okay. He looked like he was dying from a fever as he sweated uncontrollably. Medic was quickly up in the respawn area with Heavy behind to check on Dell. Others followed behind confused by the sudden rush to the respawn. 

"Dell? Dell can you hear me?" Medic asked as he ran over to where he was. Dell didn't respond with words but more of a grunt as Medic took off his goggles and hard hat. Medic looked at his eyes to notice the distant look in his eyes. "Heavy, pick him up. We need to go to surgery quickly if we want to save him." He said as he quickly went to their base. Heavy obeyed and picked up the engineer before heading back to the base.


	8. A Missing Component

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Dell's lose, he must adapt to his new life. Will he be able to handle it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to dedicate this chapter to our fallen soldier, Rick May. She was a great soldier, a wonderful comrade, and a wonderful bunny.

Dell woke up in a cold sweat. The room was dark other than the light leaking in from the slightly opened door. He looked over to the door, squinting from the light and got up. He slowly walked over and opened it, peeking out. He noticed he was back in the 2fort battlefield in the long corridor right next to the entrance.

He stepped out of the room as a wave of confusion consumed him. He turned right and started to walk towards it but ran into a dead end. He felt frustrated and turned around to go the other way. After a while, he saw a door at the end of the hallway. He picked up the pace and grabbed the door knob, turning it. 

Once open, Dell noticed he was in a field. His childhood home's field once again. He walked out and looked around. He tried to call out for anyone but no noise came out of his mouth. He looked around to see if anyone was there, and saw someone in the background. He quickly ran closer to them. He slowed down when he noticed that the person was younger him, packing in a car. The younger Dell looked back at the house before getting in the car as if he was leaving forever. 

He continued to drive as he felt angry and sad. He had many letters in his passenger seat, all to him and open. His destination was the train station. Once he got there he parked and sat there for a second, hesitating. He looked around as if he was looking for someone before grabbing a letter. He read it again, even though the English wasn't the best.

He got out of the car and walked over to the station. He walked inside as if he was going to board a train but really he was waiting for someone. He sat in a chair, still holding the letter and waited. As the minutes turned into hours, Dell's excitement faded into heartbreak. He looked down at the ground as his anger grew. He soon got up and threw away the letter before he felt a sharp pain in his right hand. He flinched and looked down at his own hand before yelling in horror as his hand turned into black goo and began melting like a candle.

Dell woke up flinching from his nightmare. He felt really heavy as he opened his eyes slowly. He could hear a beeping noise that grew louder and louder as his hearing came back. He looked down at his body and noticed someone was sitting near the bed with their upper self laying on the bed asleep. Dell grew confused as to who it could be. Their hair was almost a light brown, short, and wavy. He reached over with his left hand and placed it on their head making the sleeping man jump slightly. They lifted their head and looked over at Dell. Their hazel eyes gleamed with worry and relief. On the left side of their tan face was a nasty old burn scar that ran up into his hairline making him have some missing hair.It ran down to his neck and into the suit. 

Dell realized who this mystery man was when they quickly got up and leaned over Dell, giving him a hug. He smiled softly, still affected by the drugs and gave him a hug back but something felt off. He pulled his hands away and looked at his right arm before feeling a sense of panic overwhelm him from what he saw.

His hand was gone. Only a little bit past the elbow was left and it was completely wrapped up. The medi gun glowed brightly on his little stump. He started to panic and sat up. He felt dizzy and held his head, still staring at his missing hand. He looked at Apollo with fear before he quickly got hugged again. He was shaking but started to feel better. The drugs were starting to lighten up thankfully. As he collected his thoughts while hugging Apollo back and looked at his hand once more not as freaked out. "My hand was that bad huh." He commented as he thought about that black dot. 

Apollo pulled away and sat down. "Yes. Medic said something was eating your hand alive with poison. He has it alive in a jar." Dell looked at his missing hand once more. "There was something in my hand?" He was shocked to hear this. 

Medic walked in before Apollo could answer and looked at them. "Good. You're awake. How are you doing." He asked as he looked at his charts. "I'm doing better than before that's for sure." Dell chuckled as he tried to make a joke out of the situation. It didn't help the mood.

Medic frowned slightly seeing Dell is still loopy from the medicine. "Dell, concentrate. I have a feeling someone is trying to kill you. I've had Heavy install extra security since you were out for a few days."

Dell quieted down thinking about that. "The administrator is going to have my head for this.." he whispered, biting his finger gently. Medic nodded. "Yeah. Though we got Scout to run as zou. We got some funny pictures thanks to Demoman." He hummed as he checked on the wraps. He started to unwrap Dell's nub to see the progress of his arm. "Well, you're all healed up so you are now able to go. I'm testing that little creature out to see what might have caused it to be." He turned off the medi gun.

Dell got up and nodded. "Thank you Doc." He said quietly as he put on his helmet and goggles with his only hand. He stood there, thinking of his next move. He needed a new hand, that's for sure. Being one handed during combat wouldn't work. "Hey Pyro. Can you help me out with a project?" He asked the now masked man. 

Apollo looked at him and nodded, giving him a thumbs up. Dell grabbed whatever else he had and started to head to his workshop, looking at his nub. He was stumbling slightly considering he's still drugged but it wasn't bad. Once there, Dell unlocked the door. They walked inside and Dell went to an umbrella bin full of Blueprints. He dug through them before pulling out one and unrolling it onto a table. "I call it the gunslinger." He said as Apollo walked over to see the Blueprint. "I did make it for my other hand and I was drunk when I made it but it will work. I can even use it as a weapon." He looked at Apollo as he pointed out the components of a weapon. "What's your background on machines?" He asked as he went to grab some scrap metal.

Apollo thought about it before pulling his mask off. He held his mask nervously. "I used to… fix the machines in the circus… so some?" He said, watching Dell make a pile of scrap metal.

Dell nodded and looked at him as he handed him a welding mask so that he can have his face covered but still able to talk. Apollo appreciated that and put it on. "I didn't know you were in the circus. I've only seen it once…" Dell commented as he looked at the blueprints, revising them for his current condition. 

Apollo nodded, looking at the tools on the table. "Yeah.. it wasn't all that great. They were evil. Wicked… So I burned it down." He said casually as Dell, who was sipping some beer, spit it out. Dell looked at him in shock. "Really? Wow. I guess I can see you doing that  
"

Apollo looked at him slightly offended. "What do you mean by that Dell bird?" Dell blushed at this nickname and looked at him. "I don't mean it in a bad way, firebug. We are here for a reason. Jane's here because he has an incredible bloodlust which is blinded by his stupidity but that's what makes him Jane and I'd rather him stay that way than but be afraid to hurt someone in this line of work. He's a good man for the job. I'm here because, well, I too have an incredible bloodlust to kill people but with my machinery. My Pops was the classic engineer to a previous team for ManCo. He raised me to be a killing machine. He wanted me to be his successor. I guess he never expected me to snap and lose control over my anger towards him which is another story. My point is, every one of us is here for a reason, we are either on death row, we're dedicated to the cause, or well we did somethin' a little bit twisted that most people might find not okay." He looked at Apollo. "You may have done somethin' bad in your past but that doesn't change the man who you are in your heart." He poked Apollo's chest. "You are a very caring man. You have a very good passion for fire. The way you look after those you care for, it gives us all a bit of sanity. You're kind, sensitive and gentle and an amazin' cook." He smiled at him. 

Apollo looked at him, shaking slightly before walking over to him and hugging the stout short man. "Thank you Dell. That was very kind to say." He said quietly as Dell stood there in shock before hugging him back, patting his back with his good hand. Apollo lifted the mask and kissed Dell's cheek, causing Dell to tense up and look at him as his face turned completely red. 

Apollo chuckled and pulled the mask down, causing Dell to smile, still tense, and look away. "Ready?" He said, pulling away and grabbing a wrench. Apollo nodded and grabbed some scrap metal. The project took several hours to do. After a while they started to have a few drinks and chatted about past battles, past experiences. It was just overall a grand old time. Dell started to feel a buzz come on as they started to construct what metal they have formed for the hand. 

As Dell constricted the mechanical gears for his hand, he looked at a piece of metal that he had set aside with worry. "Now Apollo, I'm going to do somethin that might hurt me a lot but it is the only way for me to attach the hand to my arm. It's the mounting plate and what connects to my nerves." He said looking at Apollo who was worried. "I need you to cut open my wound. Enough for me to put this part on my arm. Don't worry if you're hurting me. It's best if I respawn. It's the only way for me to attach my skin to it like welding." He said as calmly as he could before swallowing to the thought of the pain. Apollo swallowed as well but if it was the only way then he had to try.

Apollo grabbed a sharp piece of metal and took a hold of Dell's nub before cutting it in a way that would be best for the metal piece. Dell did his best to keep himself from screaming in pain. He grabbed the round disc and shoved it into the wound. He felt sick, almost dizzy as the pain took over. He panted, putting pressure into the disc as he grabbed that piece of metal that Apollo used to cut open his nub and stabbed himself causing Apollo to gasp and try to stop him anyway. Dell coughed up blood as he looked at Apollo, stopping him from stopping him. "Im.. okay." He struggled to say, feeling dizzy. "Catch.. me." he said as he blacked out, feeling hands on his chest.

He woke up in the spawn room and looked at his arm. Like he said, his skin wielded to the plate with a death grip. He heard running and looked up to see Apollo running towards him at full speed. Dell held his hand as Apollo ran and hugged him tightly, almost falling over. "Don't do that again!!" He shook Dell. Dell felt dizzy from being thrashed around and looked at him. Apollo still had the welding mask on but he can see the worry in his eyes. "I'm sorry I scared you Apollo. Look." He lifted up his new fine nub. Apollo sighed and nodded. 

"Let's go back before anyone notices, alright?" Dell asked, taking Apollo's hand and walking back to the workshop. Apollo, of course, followed and once back, they continued working on the hand. With a few more touches and a few more beers, the hand was done. He put the hand on the mount and turned it on. He jumped to the electric feeling in his nub that shot up his arm and shivered. He chuckled and moved the hand around to get used to it. "Nice job Apollo. Thanks for the help." He smiled as a drunken blush covered his cheek. 

Apollo lifted up the mask and smiled as well. "You know, you look cool with it. It fits you." He smiled as he looked at the hand before back at Dell. "Yeah? Thank you Apollo." He smiled back at him. The greens and browns shined in his eyes, it was breathtaking. It grew quiet between the two. Dell's heart started to race as Apollo got a bit closer to him. Dell didn't run, his feet almost glued to the ground. The blush on his face grew into something more than a few beers as he also leaned closer. 

Considering Dell's height, Apollo reached up to Dell's cheeks and gently cupped them as the gap between the two closed into a soft shy kiss. Dell's heart was racing while his stomach did flops as he kissed the man back, closing his eyes. His hands drifting to Apollo's sides, gently resting them on his hips. The shaking Pyro slowly calmed down as the kiss continued, slowly turning into a passionate one. 

Before it could go anywhere else there was a knock at the door. Dell pulled away from the kiss, shocked that someone's at the door. He looked at Apollo before cleaning his throat, clearly flustered and a bit annoyed by the sudden interruption. He walked over to the door, calming himself down and opened it. He looked out to see a very sad Jane.


	9. The Heated Showers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am truely sorry for the delay everyone. I fell ill last week and was backlogged on everything. I am much better now and have a good chapter for you. The next chapter will be on schedule I promise. 
> 
> With Dell's new hand and the love interest grows, what will happen if the two are alone again? We shall see.

Jane looked up at him and held up his broken rocket launcher. Usually if a weapon broke, Dell would fix it for his team mates. Rarely did Jane break his rocket launcher though, considering how well he took care of his weapons and this time it was in pretty bad shape. Dell looked concerned. "What happened son? You okay?" He asked as he opened the door wider.

"Too many rocket jumps over the years broke my favorite rocket launcher." He genuinely sounded depressed over this. He was one to be fond of his weapons. He handed the wrecked rocket launcher over to him. Dell took it and nodded, thinking of ways to improve it already. "Don't worry Jane. I'll get your rocket launcher up and running as soon as possible. I'll make it stronger too." This brought a smile to Jane's face.

"Thank you!" He saluted him and marched away. Dell sighed as he watched the man disappear behind a corner, then looked inside at Apollo. He had his actual mask back on. Dell felt a bit disappointed and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the work bench and put the destroyed weapon down. 

Dell sighed once more and looked at Apollo. " Well, wanna help me with the rocket launcher too?" He smiled at him. Apollo played with his fingers in a shy manner and nodded. Dell chuckled and grabbed the blueprint for the weapon. Thankfully they had all the parts and assembly was quite easily. Dell sighed in relief as they got the weapon fixed within an hour.

He sat on a chair to relax as he grabbed another beer. Apollo also sat down and looked at him. He seemed to have relaxed by now and had his mask off. Dell looked at him and blushed before sipping the beer. He swallowed it down loud and hummed. "Do you want to stay over tonight? It might be safer since people are out to get me." He looked away as his blush grew. 

Apollo chuckled and nodded, looking away with a pink tint on his face. "Sure, I'll sleep over." He said in a shy tone. Dell smiled softly and sipped his beer again. He looked at the clock and hummed. "It will be dinner time soon. Shall we start headin' over?" He asked Apollo. Apollo nodded and got up to grab his mask. Dell got up from his own chair and waited for the other before heading out of his workshop. They walked into the base and headed straight to the kitchen. It was Scouts turn tonight, spaghetti. He didn't cook much but what he knew he knew well. 

Dell walked into the dining room area and sat down, too drunk to help anyway. The blush from the alcohol was giving away his current stability. Medic looked at him and chuckled as he sipped some water. Demoman looked at Dell and hummed. "Seems ey ain't the only one eh? Haha" he sipped his scrumpy and let out a satisfied noise. Dell chuckled softly and glanced towards Apollo, who was also pretty drunk at this point. He was watching Scout cook, even though it did seem to creep Scout out a little bit. 

Scout got the plates ready and plated the spaghetti. Apollo helped by putting the plates on the table before sitting down to also enjoy. Dell started to eat at a leisurely pace since he didn't want to push his stomach from the alcohol. He looked over at Apollo who was eating quickly, he was probably starving since he drank a lot less. 

Dell glanced down at his gloved hand, the feeling in the metal hand felt phantom. It's as if his original one was still there and in pain. He took off the glove and looked at it again to make sure the mechanics were still working. Demoman watched, "Ey, losing a limb is never fun. But ye get used to it quickly." He took another sip of his scrumpy and hummed, leaning back in his chair. Dell sighed as he moved the hand around. "Yeah." He said as he remembered the countless times Demoman has lost that exact eye. So many times that Medic said fuck it and stopped trying.

Soon dinner was over and Dell got up. He needed a shower badly. He looked at Apollo as everyone went to do their own thing. He walked over to him. "I'm going to take a shower, firebug. You're welcome to go back to the workshop if you like, there's a key under the welcome mat." Apollo nodded. Dell walked past and headed to the locker room as Apollo followed him. 

He went straight for the lockers, sitting down in front of them on the bench to get undressed. He heard footsteps and looked back to see Apollo had followed him in. He looked at him confused. "I also need a shower." Apollo clarified as he took off his mask, the bright light of the locker room showed off his features perfectly, making Dell blush. Dell nodded , the thought of the other man naked filled his mind. He wondered what he looked like as he clumsily untied his boots. 

The sound of the rubber suit being taken off in the background made Dell nervous and excited. He turned around to see him taking the legs off. He was in the rubber suit only in his boxers. He was also covered in sweat and was somewhat pale compared to his face and hands. Dell couldn't help but stare as he felt a pit form in his stomach that felt like it was on fire. He got up and quickly undressed. The quicker in the shower the quicker he can hide his forming problem. 

He faced away from the man as he got his overalls off and shirt, leaving him in his boxers as well. He felt someone touch his shoulder causing him to jump. He looked back at Apollo who was chuckling. Dell blushed and gently pushed him in a playful way. "Don't do that, firebug." He chuckled as he grabbed a towel. Apollo took off his boxers and also grabbed a towel. 

Dell looked at him and turned a tomato red. He looked away and headed to the showering area. He took off his boxers and quickly went into his shower, Apollo in the one next to his. Dell turned on the water and waited for it to warm up. He leaned against the tiles as he heard Apollo move around.

"Hey Dell?" He asked, causing Dell to look towards his voice. "Yes?" He asked curiously. Apollo got under the water and hummed. "Do you want to kiss again?" Dell blushed and went quiet for a minute. He did enjoy it. "Why sure, firebug." He said nervously. He hadn't kissed anyone in so many years that just mentioning it made him feel his stomach do flips. What he didn't expect was to hear the other open his shower curtain and walk over to Dell's shower, opening the curtain. 

Dell gasped and covered himself with a lufa, his face completely red. "APOLLO, what are you doing?!" He asked as the other man came into the shower. He put his finger up against his mouth, telling him to quiet down before he walked closer to him. Dell was still a bit startled by the sudden invasion of his space but didn't back into the corner of the shower. His feet wouldn't move, his heart raced and his eyes watched the others every move. 

Apollo was very patient, waiting for Dell to relax. He had a very calm and alluring demeanor that caused Dell to eventually calm down. Dell looked at him as the water beat down into his skin, thankful that it wasn't too hot. He swallowed and looked him up and down. He bit his lip. "You want to kiss now?" He asked him, making sure he understood correctly. Apollo nodded, not concerned by their current state of nudity. Dell thought about it for a second and slowly nodded. "O-okay." He said, looked at him in the eyes.

Apollo stepped forward and kissed him gently. It made Dell smile, he enjoyed this man's sweet nature. He returned the kiss, putting his hand on the other’s hip. He was already getting heated up from the lack of another's company for so long. 

The kiss started to turn into a passionate one, making Dell's stomach flip. He may be a bold person but romance was foreign to him, considering his last relationship turned sour like lemon and milk. Apollo reached to his face and gently cupped his cheeks as he opened his mouth. Dell slipped his tongue in and gripped his hip gently, giving a sort of dominance. 

Apollo smiled in the kiss and suddenly started to fight Dell's tongue, winning easily. Dell let out a soft moan before blushing. He pulled away and looked down at himself, he already had a boner. He blushed darkly and looked away, feeling rather embarrassed by his sudden excitement and how easily he could be turned on. 

Apollo stroked his cheek before reaching down and taking the other's member, gently rubbing his tip. Dell put his hand on the others shoulder, his metal nub resting on the others chest. He panted, feeling fireworks dance in his stomach. This was a new feeling for him considering he's never really gone past second base in a relationship, considering most of his life he's never needed a real "need" for someone with school and work being the major priority.

He gripped his shoulder tighter as Apollo continued to rub his shaft. He moaned softly, trying to keep quiet as he reached down to rub Apollo. He looked at him, Apollo was flustered as well. He seemed nervous but also determined to make Dell happy. He wanted Apollo to enjoy this as well. He leaned up to kiss him again in attempts to relax the other boy. 

Apollo didn't kiss at first out of straight concentration but eventually did. Dell stuck his tongue in once more and explored his mouth. Dell rubbed Apollo's tip with a circular motion as he continued to kiss the man. Apollo's breath hitched to the sensation, softly panting through his nose after. He continued to rub Dell's shaft. 

Apollo pulled away from the kiss and started to kiss down his jawline and to his neck, giving him gentle nibbles and kisses. Dell panted softly, gripping onto him and tilting his head back. He reached down to his collar bones and left several small hickeys. Dell quietly moaned and looked down at him. He wasn't going to be able to keep this up for long. "We can do more than this, firebug." He said breatihly as Apollo looked up at him through his curly locks. He smiled and stood up straight, letting go of Dell's member. "Turn around?" He asked politely but also in a very dominant voice. 

Dell swallowed, feeling a bit of shiver go up his spine. He turned around, facing the tilted wall. The water started to turn warm. Apollo had Dell bend over before he got some water and rubbed Dell's entrance. Seems Apollo might have some experience in this field. Dell felt nervous, worried it might hurt. He shook a little but didn't run as Apollo slipped his finger into him, making sure to go slow. 

Dell gasped softly and gripped onto the wall. He got a bit closer to the wall, resting his forearm and nub on it. He looked down and bit his lip. The sensation was weird at first. Thankfully it didn't hurt but it wasn't the best feeling initially. As he thrust his finger the sensation turned more into pleasure causing Dell to breath slightly faster than normal. 

After a few more thrusts, Apollo thrust in another finger, causing Dell to gasp louder and jump slightly. He gripped his nub and bit his lip as Apollo thrusted his fingers slowly until fast. Dell took in deeper breaths with the occasional moan. Apollo pulled his fingers out. "Are you ready?" Dell nodded, gripping the wall as he waited. 

Apollo lined up, making sure everything was lubricated and pushed in slowly. Dell moaned kind of loud and covered his mouth. It took him a second to get used to the other before Apollo started to thrust. Dell moaned into his hand and closed his eyes. The sensation was overwhelming making his legs shake a little. The water was starting to grow cold by this time. 

Apollo's pace was slow at first but picked up, he was moving around as if aiming for something. Dell moaned loudly at the feeling of his prostate getting hit, covering his mouth once more and mumbling something under his breath. He was In pure bliss as he heard the locker room door open causing Apollo to stop, dead cold. Dell froze and looked towards the door, listening. The boots were heavy and the footsteps were somewhat slow. 

Dell could tell it was Soldier by the boots. He continued to listen as Apollo started to slowly thrust again. Thankfully they were in the very back of the showers so there really wasn't any need for Soldier to walk over. Dell bit his lip, trying all his might to keep quiet. If Soldier heard them, they would be done for. 

The sound of a shower starting up gave Dell some relief. Apollo grew impatient and tired of being interrupted by their teammates and picked up the pace once more. Dell held his breath and gripped onto a pipe. He started to drool, unable to think as he moved against the thrusts for more friction. He was blushing darkly, having someone else in the room made this rough. He started to hum to try and distract himself from moaning. It sounded awful for the situation he was in.

Thankfully Jane was a quick cleaner and was out of the shower pretty fast. Though not fast enough, Dell felt close already. His legs began to shake again as the feeling in his stomach grew unbearable. He let out a weird noise as he came onto the floor. It was quiet in the shower room as he held onto that pipe for support. Apollo suddenly shook behind him and the throbbing feeling in his ass suggested he came as well. 

"You okay there?" Jane asked. "Engineer?" He asked as if he's guessing who might have made that sound. Dell swallowed and said, out of breath. "Yup! I'm good!"he said a bit loud. Jane shrugged. "Alright." He got dressed and soon left the two lovers alone. 

Dell panted through his nose and looked at Apollo with a look of how dare you, but nothing sinister. "You could have." He let out a breath, still catching it. "Waited, firebug." He chuckled and looked back at the wall. Apollo pulled out, causing Dell to shiver from the feeling. He shivered a bit from the cold water still hitting him. He stood up straight and looked at Apollo. "Next time though, I'm topping." He chuckled, causing Apollo to grin. "Well we should clean up now." He got his breath calm and washed himself off as Apollo walked back to his own shower


	10. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things one should not do during war.  
> 1\. Make friends with the enemy.  
> 2\. Underestimate the enemy.  
> Most importantly.  
> 3\. Keep an eye on your back.
> 
> I'm so sorry for this being late. I'm going to be moving my upload date to Wednesday since it will be a lot easier to upload the chapters on time.

By the time they were done in the locker rooms, it was dark outside. Dell pulled out a flashlight and lit their way. Thankfully the workshop was not too far from the main building. He had Apollo follow him as he hobbled to the door and grabbed his keys, unlocking it. 

Opening the door, he let Apollo go in first before he followed and locked the door behind him. Apollo walked straight for Dell's bed, making Dell blush. He didn't think the man would sleep with him in the bed but it was Pyro so he shrugged and went on getting ready for bed. Apollo got ready and laid down in the suit. 

Dell walked over in sleep wear and hummed. "Are you sure you want to sleep in that Apollo? It might be more comfortable without it." He looked concerned but Apollo shook his head and mumbled even though his mask was off. "I'm comfortable." 

Dell hummed and laid down next to him, not wanting to question him further and fell asleep rather quickly. When he awoke the next morning Apollo was already gone, but had left him a little note with a heart and unicorn on it. Dell looked at the note, half asleep and smiled before getting up. He yawned and stretched, making his back pop. Walking over to his dresser, he pulled out a fresh pair of clothes to wear. It was a good day off for building. Dell can catch up on some projects that he lost during the explosion.

dressed, he sat at his desk and got right to it. After a few hours, Dell leaned back in his chair when he heard some wood creak behind him. He looked back casually, thinking it might be Apollo or even Jane checking in on him, but instead he saw Scout. He stood up quickly when he saw the blue shirt and quickly threw the chair at him. 

The Scout dodged and ran at him, punching him in the face and pinning him down. "Come on, don't struggle or scream." He tried to cover Dell's mouth as he reached for one of his pockets. Dell quickly bit the boy's hand and kicked him off. He went for the alarm button they had for intruders but was tripped in the process. Dell hit the ground hard and grabbed the boy's leg, throwing him with ease. 

The Scout fell but pulled out a baseball, throwing it hard into Dell's face. Dell yelled out of confusion and pain as he held his face, almost falling over again. The blood dripped from his nose as he looked at the Scout who had run over to him and stuck a needle into his neck. "Not again!" Dell thought as he yelled and landed a hard punch with his metal hand, breaking some of the Scout's teeth before the fuzzy feeling began.

Dell stumbled a bit, he looked at the alarm system and with all his power got over to it. He was about to push it when he collapsed as his limbs went numb. He tried to call out for help but his voice box fell to a whisper as he wasparalyzed. Panic started to set in as the Scout watched him lay there. "Why the hell does that psychopath want this engineer." He walked over and grabbed Dell's leg, dragging him to the front door. 

Dell tried to fight back, just to move a muscle even but nothing happened. "Why is this happening? How did this shit get in." He thought. as he watched, the Scout peeked out the windows to make sure the coast was clear before picking up his bat and looking at Dell. He hummed as he pulled out another needle and injected it into his arm. His veins pulsed slightly a blue color before his skin settled. The Scout shivered and grinned. 

He reached down and picked up Dell like he was only a teddy bear. This freaked out Dell, "How the hell? What the hell?!" He thought as he began to freak out even more, causing him to breath heavily and fast through his nose. "Quiet down moron. Before I tape your nose shut." He demanded in a whisper as he put the man somehow on his shoulder. 

He opened the door and bolted the back way out of the base. Dell hoped Sniper was out taking a piss for once but alas his pissing area was empty. The Scout ran to a van parked in a hidden area and opened the door, putting Dell in the back. In the van was the Blu Pyro and the Blu Sniper. "Took you long enough mate." He said sarcastically as he started up the van. The Blu Scout jumped in, closing the door behind him as the Blu Pyro crept up slowly to Dell. 

Dell felt like he was going to vomit. He looked at the Pyro and freaked out as they pulled out a needle and slowly stuck it into his neck, making Dell pass out. 

*

It was around dinner time when Apollo missedDell. The lack of him on a day off was usually expected so no one thought to check on him until now. Apollo first knocked, knowing that usually he will answer the door no matter the situation but, when no one answered, Apollo grew worried.

Remembering the key under the mat, he leaned down and grabbed the keys before unlocking the door and poking his head in. To his surprise, the workshop was a mess. He flung the door open and pulled his mask off, looking around. The signs of a struggle could be read all over the room. "Dell?!?" He said in a loud worried voice as he searched the workshop. 

When he couldn't find him, he began to freak out and ran out the door, not caring that his mask was off. He ran inside the main base to the kitchen where everyone was and practically broke the doors down. Everyone in the room looked over at him and dropped everything they had in their hands out of pure shock to see the pyro unmasked. Before Scout could speak up, Apollo interrupted. "Dell's missing! His workshop is destruido, destroyed!" He held his mask, shaking. The shocked looks turned to worry as people went to go see. To their surprise, he was right. Dell’sworkshop was destroyed.

Apollo looked at Medic. "Where is he Medic? D-do you think he got stolen?" He looked like he was going to cry under those golden brown locks. Medic thought about it and looked at the floor, noticing a mud track that didn't look like Dell's shoe print. He looked around and noticed Spy wasn't with them. He huffed and kneeled down to inspect it. "We will find him as quickly as we can Pyro. Scout, quickly look around to make sure no one is in the base or in the surrounding area. Jane, rocket jump around with him to get a birds eye view." They nodded and quickly left.

Heavy looked at the foot print. "Footprint of a tiny man…" he thought about it before nodding. "We look at everyone's shoes, figure out if it's one of our own or the opposite teams. Da." He stood up. 

Sniper grumbled as he thought of ways to help. "Moy van has some security cameras that Dell installed. Oy can check them to see if anyone got caught by them." Medic nodded and Sniper quickly left. 

*

Dell woke up to a bright light in his eyes. He couldn't see for a minute as he tried to move only to realize He was tied down to a metal table. He looked around, feeling dizzy from the drugs in his system. When he saw the Blu Medic and Blu Spy were in the room, he growled and struggled but to no avail. The Medic laughed, "Vou are not going anywhere. So don't try." He grabbed a scalpel and hummed, running it against Dell's good arm gently. "Oh I vish I vas there to see my precious virus eat your hand alive~" he giggled as he cut his arm slightly open, causing Dell to tense up and clench his teeth.

The Medic leaned in and said in a cold voice. "You Reds are quite dumb with noticing changes, yes?" He smiled. "Let's see how long it takes those fools to notice you're missing." He grinned. "Considering you haven't noticed your own Spy's disappearance." He walked to the other side of the table, looking at some needles.

Dell looked confused, "Spy's disappearance? What is he-" before he could finish his thought, a scream from Spy could be heard from another room. It was a death scream before it went quiet again. Dell's eyes darted to the Blu Spy in the room. He shook on the table out of anger. "How long has this rat been pretending." He thought as the feeling of nausea once more swept over him.

The Medic picked up a needle and grinned. "Now you're my new little guinea pig as one might say. Considering how you react to my experimental needles, I think you'd be the perfect specimen, unlike your spy. What a shame, all bark but the bite was weak." He flicked the tip of the needle before looking at Dell. He put the needle in his neck, at this point, the needle marks in his neck were becoming more noticable. 

Dell instantly felt drunk, the lights started to spin around as his body relaxed. Dell groaned as he muttered, "Fuck… you." The Spy walked over and got close to his face as if searching something. The smell of his cologne was almost nauseating, yet why is it so familiar. He got the energy to spit in his face, it was weak but effective. The spy backed up, wiping his face in disgust before leaving. 

There was a sudden burning pain in his arm. He looked over to see that the Medic was cutting his arm open and pinning the skin back. Dell yelled out in pain as he clenched his fist, the muscles and tendons moved. The Medic grinned wide to see the reaction. He played inside his arm as he put the medi gun on low. 

This went on for a while to the point where Dell felt dizzy. He felt tired, the fire in him was low causing him to struggle less. The Medic finished up and healed him, though it left scars. He went back to the needles and picked one up. He grinned, seeing the Spy walk back in before he put it down. "He should listen now." The Medic left, leaving the two in the room. At one point, the Medic hooked him up to a heart monitor to make sure he didn't die and respawn while he played with his insides. Dell stared at the Spy, his heart rate going up a bit but not much.

The Spy walked over to him and lit a cigarette. He puffed on it a bit before heavily sighing. "I thought, by now, Mon Ami, you would get past your thick skull and notice who I am. Yet, for someone who enjoys detail, you're very oblivious to what's around you." He took in a drag and let it out. Dell kept watching him, too tired to speak or fight. 

The Spy looked at him and sat next to the bed, taking off his mask. His blond hair, slicked back to make the mask fit better shone from gel and a bit of sweat. He had a slim face and blue eyes. 

Dell started, realized who it was. It all made sense but it made Dell's heart rate almost skyrocket. He flinched in pain as he had to look away from his past romance. The man behind the mask that tortured him for so many years was his Ex. The letter boy from France who left him for a woman. He started to shake, his heart hurt as a wound opened up once more. 

The Spy looked at him and smiled. "You finally my face. That's a shame." He took in another drag. "Why.." Dell said weakly, "Why the hell are you here…" he looked back at him, sadness and anger in his eyes as tears came involuntarily. Spy sighed and leaned back. "When I left Texas, my father moved us back to France, where I trained day and night to be an assassin." 

Dell huffed, "I don't need your life story asshole… I already know most of it. Why are you here.. at Mannco? Why, on this team?" He said in an angry voice. "You're making me want to hurt you even more." He spat out, making the Spy glare. "Oh Mon ami, I'm not here because I wanted to follow you, it was just coincidence." He finished his cigarette and flicked it away. "I tried to tell you who I was but you’re too dumb to even notice. I thought maybe my might remind you but I wasn't expecting you to fight back." 

Dell grew angry, more wounds opened up as he suddenly felt a burst of energy and almost broke a restraint. The Spy noticed and grabbed a needle, sitting it into a very painful part of his neck, making Dell yell before he fell silent once more. 

"You know why I left you Dell, I couldn't handle the long distance relationship and your constant letters. I needed someone closer, and not some freaky barn boy. I never expected you would become an engineer. I guess that old man taught you something." 

"Fuck you… and him." Dell muttered, making Spy look a bit surprised. " Oh my. Seems you love to push everyone away. I heard about your little secret. Killing some professors and classmates isn't like you but I guess I didn't really know you. I never really wanted to know you anyway, never even loved you."

Dell shook and shut his eyes, he tried to zone out, anything to stop hearing his words. They were like knives, stabbing him over and over. "Yet seeing you on the battlefield is rather ravishing. Oh I wanted you, it made killing you fun. The way you scream is exciting~" Dell growled and looked at him again.

The Medic walked in and looked at them. He noticed Dell's tears and grinned, "Beautifully broken. Shall we continue?" Dell just stayed quiet and looked at the ceiling, giving up hope. The medic grabbed a needle and began laughing devilishly.


	11. It Will Never End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient, I had finals week so I wasn't able to type for a while. But I am back and will be back on schedule!
> 
> Dell is stuck in a sticky situation,will he get out of there alive? Will his team save Spy and him? Who knows.

The day was long and agonizing for Dell. They did multiple things to him that he tried to block out by the time they threw him into the glass cell in their base. He felt sick to his stomach as he slowly got up. His wounds left scars on his arms and legs as he walked over to the toilet and vomited. He sat near the toilet for a while, vomiting up a combination of whatever he ate last and old blood. 

When his stomach finally settled, he leaned back up against the wall and stared at the opposite wall. It was made of glass, looking into the next cell. Dell swallowed and struggled to stand back up. He looked around the cell to see what he had to work with. The cell was small and one of the corner cells. Two walls were made up of bullet proof glass with a small gap on the bottom for air while the other two walls were concrete.

He looked down to see that his metal hand was now missing, probably to prevent him from escaping. He had a small concrete bed and a toilet but nothing else. He laid back on the bed. He passed out for a while to try and recover from whatever drugs that insane Medic put in his system. 

His nap was cut short though by the noise of someone approaching the room. He opened his eyes to see a Heavy holding Red Spy by his jacket. He didn't look good at all, his suit was ruined and his face was completely messed up. His balaclava was nowhere to be seen. They threw him into the cell next to Dell's and left them alone after locking him up. 

Dell sat up and tried to get up from the bed. The Spy looked up, shocked to see Dell here and in the same shape. "Mon ami, why are you here?" He said weakly, getting up and dusting himself off. Dell sat on the floor next to the wall that separated them and sighed. Some blood dripped down from under his hard hat. "My past caught up with me and turned me into a guinea pig." He said in a quiet voice. He didn't sound happy at all, why would he be happy though in his situation. 

"I'm sorry we didn't come for you earlier son." He coughed and looked at him, his goggles off and nowhere to be seen. "That snake is one hell of a copycat. Makes me sick to know he's been there for awhile too. Hopefully… they can find us, considering he can't be two people at once." He said as he slid down more. 

Spy walked over and sat next to him in his cell. He noticed his missing hand and frowned, "Mon ingénieur, what happened to your hand?" He sounded concerned. Dell looked down at his missing hand and sighed. "They put a parasite in my hand that slowly ate it away until it had to be amputated. But sometimes limbs get lost at war." He sighed and looked at the Spy. His face looked like it wouldn't stop swelling for a while. "I have an idea. But first I must know how long have they had you here?"

The Spy sighed and looked away. "I believe it's been a month, I was scouting out their intelligence when I saw the Blu Medic do something to himself. It was… not good. I can't even imagine our own medic doing this. Something went wrong with him, like his brain melted. He isn't himself anymore." He said looking at his hands. "From what I've heard, the Medic here has gotten an interest in experimenting on rats and whatnot. But one night the experiment went wrong, one of the rats attacked the doctor. Whatever was in that rat's saliva got into the Medic’s system. It messed with his brain causing him to be psychopathic. He's been experimenting on his own team ever since. They have been tortured for much longer, we need to figure out a way to get rid of this or cure him from whatever is causing his brain to go haywire." Spy sighed and pulled out a picture of Scout's mom. "As much as I hate to admit, I do miss the little rat. And his lovely mother." 

Engineer slid down the wall and sighed before hearing footsteps. As they got closer, Engineer finally realized who's approaching them. It was none other than the Blu Spy whom he demised. Dell quickly got up to his feet, giving the spy an evil glare. He hated that man even more knowing the truth,and why wouldn’t he, this man has destroyed his life more than one time.

This vile man looked at him and chuckled, "Oh Dell, still angry as ever I see. Why won't you just get over it and be a bigger man about this." He chuckled.

Dell growled, he never took his eyes off the man. "WHY would I want to do that when all I want to do is strangle you until you can't breathe. Make sure you're dead before I cut your body open and serve it to dogs." He said in a harsh tone, making his own Spy gulp. "What is this about?" Thought Red Spy, unaware of the relationship that Dell and Spy had.

"Oh, I always loved your enthusiasm for violence. You really have never changed, Dell, have you?" The man hummed. He unlocked the door. Dell went on high alert making sure he's ready for a fight. The spy stepped in, closing the door behind him, and held a needle, ready to inject if need be.

"Come on Dell, I know you still love me, I know it from your letters." He grinned. This just pissed Dell off, "I haven't sent you a letter in 10 years. I assumed you were dead and I hoped you were. Get out of my cell for I hurt you even more." His voice went hoarse and violent, The Red Spy has never seen Dell so angry before, considering Dell has been quite the sweetheart to his own team.

The Blu Spy noticed this and grinned, looking over at the Red Spy. "Did you know that Dell was gay? This poor man can't even get a lover to love him back, pathetic " he grinned devilishly.

Dell suddenly lunged at the man. He may be an engineer, but his father has introduced him to many of the classic members and they have taught him very well how to handle certain situations that are out of the engineering league. The metal nub that he had on currently had a few weapons inside it, blended in perfectly thanks to his engineering degrees. Tapping part of his metal nub caused a small blade to come out as he stabbed the man. the Blu Spy screamed, pushing him away and shooting Dell in the leg. 

Dell yelled, falling down to the floor as he held the bullet wound. He watched that Blu Spy like an eagle, never blinking or letting his eyes wander. He circled him and stepped on his throat, bending down and putting the needle in his throat. Dell shoved him off quickly and stoodup, even through the pain, and tackled him. 

He pinned him down and proceeded to punch him with both his hand and nub before he started to feel weird. He tensed up, feeingl tired. He stumbled before collapsing, out cold. 

When he reawoke, it was to a cold feeling on his back. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. He was upright and pinned to the wall with metal restraints. He tried to wiggled free but it was no use. He heard the door open and looked over to see the medic walk in with a cart of tools. 

The Medic looked at him and grinned as he parked the cart nearby. He cut open Dell's shirt and hummed. "Oh, what flawless skin." He hummed as he dragged a knife against his skin as Spy walked in, pulling in a machine with cables. 

"Let's see how you handle some electricity." He smiled as he slowly cut open his arm. Dell flinched and tensed up, gritting his teeth. He pulled his skin apart and attached the small cables onto the exposed muscles. He did this in several spots before he walked over to the machine and flicked it on.

Dell instantly tensed up, the pain in his muscles was astounding. He yelled out in agony as the lights fluctuated slightly. Medic turned it off and hummed, snapping his fingers at Spy. "We need my medi gun so he doesn't die. I'll be right back, have fun." He said as he left the room.

Dell panted and looked at him, sweat starting to drip down from the top of his head. He glared asthe Spy picked up a scalpel and walked over to Dell. He grinned and sliced his cheek open. Dell yelled and panted. He spat at the Spy, which pissed him off. He took off his glove and slapped him, hard. Dell took it, unable to truly fight back. He was beginning to feel light headed from blood loss when the Medic finally made it back and put him on a low stream to keep him alive.

The Medic watched him for a minute, to see his reaction to the Medi guns stream. He adjusted it until it was barely keeping him alive. He looked at the metal nub Dell had and hooked one single cable to it. "Fight back, and you vill get shocked." The Medic warned as he proceeded to get pliers. He went to Dell's good hand and grasped of one of his nails, pulling it off. 

Dell yelled out, his entire body shaking. He closed his eyes, hoping this would be over soon. He'd rather die than go through this for an entire month. This went on for an hour or so. The Medic stepped back and grinned at his work. He had Dell sewn up so he could start to heal and he at that time removed the rest of his fingernails. 

Dell had a needle in his neck, one to keep him from passing out. At this point, his neck was covered in needle marks. Dell watched him, feeling tired and out of it. The pain almost numb now as the bucket underneath him filled up with blood.

The Medic picked up the bucket and hummed. He put a lid on it before putting it aside. Spy watched from the corner, Dell didn't even notice him until now. He looked at him as he laid his head back into the metal wall. He noticed the Spy was covered in blood. Spy's honesty confused him. They flaunt how expensive their suit is, yet they fight with a knife in close combat which usually can lead to blood spray. 

Though the blood on the Blu Spy's suit was excessive. It's everywhere, coloring him in this nasty Red color. "Who's blood might it be?" Dell thought as he felt his head suddenly yanked to look at the Medic. He swallowed and glared at him. He noticed the Medic was holding another needle and he rolled his eyes. 

The Medic glared and stuck it in his neck violently, causing Dell to flinch in his restraints. The liquid in the needle caused his neck to burn as it started to take effect. He started to shake violently and his eyes rolled back, passing out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Also thank daoinhe for helping me edit!


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